The Elder Scrolls: A Tale of Amaranth
by SilverFang1122
Summary: In 3E 342, a familiar enemy rises. Will the bond between two brothers be strong enough to save all of existence from annihilation? Prepare for battles between immense fighters, emotional storytelling and a tale of epic proportions. This is The Elder Scrolls: A Tale of Amaranth.
1. Prologue

Prologue

3E 342, 14th of Morning Star

" _Six are the walking ways, enigma, enemy, teachers  
Begat by precursor gods, come we now their creatures  
Embody splendor in your name, and wisdom in your features_

 _Six are the guardians, three fore and three incarnate  
Here to test your hero's ways, and show that you can learn it  
The truest works we shall behold are those made by the silent"_

A small babe fell asleep to his mother's voice.

It was a cold morning in Wayrest, the sun had not yet risen and stalactites of ice hung from the Breton-styled buildings. The whole city was quiet and asleep still, there were no sounds save for a few chirping birds. The darkness shrouding the city had only just begun to fade and the clouds in the sky moved across Secunda and Masser. Eventually, a faint noise started to fade in from the distance, it was a horse's trot. The trot became more and more audible until a figure could be made out through the mist. It was the silhouette of a hooded rider on horseback making its way toward the city. The trot stopped suddenly and the rider dismounted, tied his horse to a tree, and continued on foot.

The sun had by now just peeked over the horizon and a ray of sunlight hit some of the hanging ice gradually creating a small droplet of water at the peak of the icicle.

The figure was tall and covered in pitch black robes, their face hidden like a Bosmer in the woods. They were approaching the city with both caution and purpose. The figure continued to move into the city and walked along the main road before diverging into the smaller roads of the residential area. The figure walked as if they knew exactly where to go, taking sure turns along the paths and walking with certitude.

By now, the sun had risen completely, along with some of the city people. The docks began to come alive as sailors and fishermen readied their boats for the day at sea and merchants began setting up their stalls in the market area. The figure stopped moving. They were standing in front of the door of a house. The house seemed inconspicuous, it looked the same as all the other ones around it—small, bland and wooden. For some reason the figure stopped in front of this one. The figure was about to move when the door opened. A handsome young Breton, presumably in his mid to late twenties, with a freckled face and frizzy, light brown hair covering his forehead stepped out of the door. His green eyes stared at the black hood, concerned. He immediately asked:

"Who're you?"

There was no answer. The hooded figure looked up and for the first time his face was visible. It was a High Elf with eyes as black and dead as night. He produced a dagger from his cloak and, before the Breton man could retaliate, he found he could not move a muscle, he was frozen stiff and fell forward as he lost his balance. The Altmer had cast a paralysis spell on him and he fell right into the assassin's dagger. At that moment a scream came from inside the home followed by a great ruckus. The hooded figure hurried into the home and searched it's interior violently. His eyes fell on an empty crib. The elf cursed then quickly searched further into the home where he found an open window. He fell in pursuit of the fleeing mother and baby.

When he exited the window, he could see a woman with dark, bushy hair running with something in her arms right before she disappeared behind a corner into a main street. The elf gave chase, running swiftly. By now the streets were beginning to fill up and the woman carved her way through the people. She had to think on her feet and realised she'd have no hope of outrunning the menace. She bumped into a man dressed like a priest. She quickly placed the baby in his arms, she had cast a calm spell on the baby to stop it from giving its position away. The man was shocked but the desperation in the woman's eyes stopped him from saying anything. She gave the baby one last look, her eyes became watery before she pulled her gaze away and ran to the side of the road. She grabbed the closest thing to the size a a baby—a pot on the side of the road, she ran as she wrapped it in the baby's blanket. When the assassin rounded the corner the mother had disappeared behind, he scanned the crowd, using his height to his advantage. He saw some people moving aside and then quickly saw the cause. It was the woman who was running furiously. The elf gave chase, she could not outrun him, her only real chance would be to hide and the elf knew this which is why he needed to keep his eyes on her at all times.

The elf cut through the crowd like an Akaviri blade through horker fat. The woman continued to run until she was no longer in the crowd, she was running toward the city gate. The elf saw this as an act of foolishness. Why would she give up the cover of the crowd and the tightly packed city? Out in the open she was doomed, she was forced to outrun him and could not hide. In reality, she was drawing him away from the real baby.

The elf remained in hot pursuit, following her closely. By now they were outside the city walls and running on an incline through the woods. Finally, their chase was halted as the woman stopped at the edge of an enormous cliff, overlooking crashing waves and jagged rocks. The elf came up behind her and stared at her back, she still appeared to be holding something.

"Give me the child and you can go unharmed," the elf said making it sound as if it was a good option for the woman. The woman turned around holding a pot covered in blankets. The elf's heart skipped a beat and he almost lost his nerve.

"Where is the child!?" The elf shouted with veins in his neck and spittle flying from his mouth.

"You'll never have him." The woman said, expressionless.

"Tell me or I'll have to force it out of you," the elf threatened. Though he knew it would be no use if she were to jump off the cliff. He needed her alive if he was to find the baby. He was about to say: I'm not going to hurt you or your child, but he bit his tongue, he had just killed the father. The woman's eyes began to tear up and she took a step backwards placing her at the very edge of the daunting cliff. "You don't have to do this, be rational woman!" she sniffled then shouted:

"I love you my son! I'll be waiting for you with your father!" she closed her eyes, stepped back and tumbled to her death.


	2. Chapter 1

**PART 1**

Chapter 1

3E 352, 15th of Sun's Dawn

The Lanius' were a noble Imperial family who have resided in Skingrad for many generations, as far back as the early second era. They were very influential Imperials who saw many powerful warriors and influential figures emerge from their family. The father of the family, Zendar Lanius, was training with his son, also named Zendar as per family tradition, in the backyard of their manor. Zenny, as he was usually referred to, was only eleven years old and his father had already started training him with a real sword.

Zendar was only wielding a dagger against his son who was swiping around a full-size steel sword, which he insisted on using. Of course to him the sword would be the same size as a Nordic claymore to a Bosmer. Despite his size, the little Zendar managed to handle the weapon with surprising capacity. It seemed as though aptitude with a blade ran in the family.

There was still a month or so of winter left in Cyrodiil. Although Skingrad did not experience the fierce temperatures of more northern cities like Chorrol and Bruma, the air was still frigid and it nipped at young Zenny's nose and ears. His fingers felt stiff and numb wrapped around his sword. Zendar believed that an hour training in the cold was worth three hours training in moderate temperatures.

Zendar would parry his son's attempts with an arm behind his back and whack him across the head every time he side-steps a jab. Zendar was taller than most other Imperials, and was often mistaken for a Nord. He was solidly built, lean and broad-shouldered. He had the same black hair as his son, it was long, parted in the middle and ran just past his shoulders. Zendar was an exceptional fighter, he could over-power virtually any foe and, despite his size, he was unnaturally quick and agile. His prefered fighting method was a longsword in one hand and a magic spell in the other. He moved naturally in all types of armour, from heavy to light while maintaining his extraordinary speed and agility.

His speed and agility could be witnessed when a would-be thief had broken into the Lanius' manor once in an attempt to steal a rumored daedric artefact that Zendar had acquired through his journeys. The thief's muddy shoes left only two footprints. The first step woke Zendar and by the time the second foot touched the floor, blood was squirting from the thief's neck. Zendar had disposed of the body and cleaned the mess before his family woke from an undisturbed sleep.

Zendar's only attribute that rivals his fighting ability is his undying loyalty to the Emperor. When Zendar was eighteen he enlisted with the Imperial Legion, at the age of twenty-two, his skill was unmatched and his loyalty steadfast. It was during this time when Morihatha Septim was assassinated and Pelagius Septim IV came to power as Emperor. With the recent assassination of an Emperor, security needed to be increased by a large margin and all sorts of new policies were drafted to maintain the Emperor's safety. For this reason, more and more promising individuals were taken into the secretive intelligence agency known as the Blades, whose sole purpose is to protect the Emperor. Because of Zendar's reputation, he was one of the first to be recruited with this new initiative.

Thirteen years later, Zendar now holds the rank of Grandmaster, the highest rank among the Blades. At his age this achievement is unheard of and only confirms the Emperor's notion that there is something special about him. Of course, no one knows what Zendar does for a living, given that the Blades are such a secretive organization—the Empire's most effective intelligence service. Some say not even his wife knows, which is true to some extent. Some say he's a mercenary, others are correct in assuming he's in intelligence work and others, however absurd, even believe him to be involved in an illegal cult. The only thing that his friends and family know for sure is that he travels often to different places, presumingly across Tamriel, as he is gone for weeks on end at times. Some of his friends have even tried to follow him out of curiosity but always seem to lose track of him shortly after he departs from Skingrad.

The two Zendars were now at a standoff, moving in a circular motion, weapon ready, eyeing each other's faintest movements. Finally Zenny became restless and leapt forward, putting all his might into the swing of his sword, his father acutely dodged. Zenny's body was stretched in an attacking motion, he was open to all sorts of counter-attacks and his father had many different options on how to punish his recklessness. The boy felt his legs give way, his father had swept them out from under him and his chest and chin hit the ground with a thud. His father said:

"I know you're not dumb enough to attack like that. We're done for today." It was true, Zenny had let his emotions cloud his better judgement and his father did not want to train with him when he became emotionally unstable. Zenny's mother, Erina, was sitting on the porch watching the training while also reading a tome about Lorkhan and the theories of his connection with creation. When she heard the crash, she put the book down and ran to him to see if he was alright. Her husband stood on the other side of the yard facing away while removing his hand wraps.

"You shouldn't be so hard on him, Zendar," Erina said as she helped dust off her son.

"He wants to fight like a man he's going to get hit like a man," Zendar retorted while still facing away.

Zenny pulled himself from his mother's hands and ran away. It was a common occurrence, whenever the boy was upset for any reason, he would run to just outside the city walls. His parents knew this and always let him go, it was a way for the child to escape, vent his frustrations and have some alone time. He would come back feeling much better most of the time.

The boy ran into the street and instantly crashed into an old lady, sending something she was carrying flying into the air. Zenny, reacting fast, managed to catch it before it crashed on the ground. It was a potion or medicine of some kind and he returned it to the old lady. He looked up and recognized Mrs. Grinya.

"What's the hurry? She said, rubbing Zenny's hair, pretending as though he hadn't just nearly cost her her medicine. She was a nice old lady but Zenny had heard her husband was sick. Zenny apologized then ran on.

There was a great oak tree on a hill very close to the city walls that Zenny would sit under, observing the beauty of the vineyard city. A small training dummy was set up near the tree by Zenny's request to Swims-The-Seas, an Argonian from the Fighters Guild who enjoyed watching Zenny train and would sometimes help him with his form and technique. Swims-The-Seas played more than just a coaching role, when Zenny was out here he was generally upset and Swims-The-Seas' would often tell Zenny stories from his exploits in the Fighters Guild, legends of the Daedric Princes or of renowned warriors of years past. This would always help cheer up Zenny and fill him with a newfound will to train harder and become stronger. Swims-The-Seas was almost like a second father to him. As many young boys who hear of brave stories and warriors, Zenny could not wait to grow up.

When Zenny reached the top of the hill, instead of finding Swims-The-Seas, he found Vivienne. A girl his age whose father owned a winery nearby. He and she shared this playing spot. Although Zenny wasn't aware of it, Vivienne liked him. However, he mistook her pokes, teasing and stubbornness as annoyances and most of the time found her to be quite the nuisance. She had light brown hair and big hazel eyes. Mucus flowed from her nose and she had two missing front teeth. She always dragged a little teddy bear with her. She saw Zenny approach and became excited.

"Hi Zenny!" She shouted enthusiastically.

"Go away," Zenny replied in a grumpy voice.

Zenny's response instantly made her cry. Even more mucus flowed from her nose now.

"You're so mean!" She shouted through her tears.

"Just leave me alone already. Geez, you're annoying," Zenny said. Vivienne turned around and ran away crying. Although Zenny was immediately relieved of her cries, he did feel a bit bad for how he made her cry. He brushed off his emotions then drew his little wooden sword and began to whack the dummy in frustration. Since Swims-The-Seas was not here, he did not have to fear criticism and could be as reckless as he wanted, getting all of his pent up anger out of him. Suddenly there was an unfamiliar voice.

"You won't get any better just whacking wood, you know." Zenny was startled and searched for the source of the voice. His eyes found a small boy much like himself sitting under his tree.

"What do you care?" Zenny said with an air of superiority. The boy was wearing rags and was most likely a peasant.

"Just don't like watching people with bad form is all," The little boy said as he fidgeted with a weed.

"You think you can take me in a fight?" Zenny said taking the little boy's comment as a challenge to his dominance.

"Nope, you'd probably kill me if I was only allowed to use a sword. But I'd probably kill you if I could fight how I like," the little boy said as he looked up at Zenny.

"And how's that?" Zenny inquired.

"With magic," the little boy said as a smile formed on his face.

"Pfft, magic is easy." Zenny dropped his sword, took a stance, put his two hands together and focussed his energy between his hands. After quite a bit of effort Zenny had created a fire ball between his hands but then lost it again. The young boy looked at him, slightly amused but he changed the subject.

"Ever had bird for dinner?" asked the little boy.

"What are you talking about?" Zenny said, confused.

"It's what I eat, there are a lot of birds in the sky free to eat. I'm quite hungry, I'll show you how I cook them," Zenny had no idea what this strange child was talking about. The boy's vision locked on something in the air followed by a flash of bright blue light, roaring thunder and a distant squawk. Zenny flinched and covered his face. After a few moments, there was a thump on the ground. The little boy walked over and picked up a charred piece of meat.

"Want to try?" the boy said as he chewed the sticky flesh of the bird.

"No!" Shouted Zenny as he fled back to his home.

The young boy shrugged and continued to graze on the bird.

The following morning, an old merchant friend of Zendar arrived in Skingrad. His name was Manuelle Monchierre. He had sent a letter to Zendar a fortnight ago to inform him he would be in Skingrad for business and would very much like to see him. Since Zendar last saw him before he joined the Imperial Legion, Manuelle had grown into a famous and successful merchant. As most successful merchants, Manuelle had a large belly and hands adorned with rings. He wore an expensive blue velvet outfit and had a two balding indentations in his blonde hair on either side of his forehead. Zendar and Manuelle met each other as young teenagers when Manuelle's parents moved from Wayrest in High Rock to Skingrad after recently purchasing some of the grape farms for their business. Despite getting along well, they were intrinsically different young men with respect to their approaches to life. Zendar was always the fighter and Manuelle the negotiator.

Manuelle arrived at the manor, he was impressed with how well Zendar has done for himself. He knocked on the door and when it opened, the face he saw gave him a feeling of great nostalgia.

"Manuelle!" Zendar said with open arms.

"It's certainly been a while," Manuelle said. "Seventeen years!" He saw Erina over Zendar's shoulder while they were hugging. "Goodness! Is that your wife Zendar!?"

"Aye."

"When I heard you got married I couldn't believe it. Who'd've thought this stubborn old bastard would get all soft and get himself married?" The men laughed. Manueulle walked over to Erina and greeted her with a kiss on the hand. "Your reputation precedes you, Lady Erina." Manuelle said politely. Erina was an accomplished mage and scholar. She grew up near the Mages Guild in the Imperial City and would often sneak into the Archmage's quarters as a young girl where the Archmage himself would teach her the several different arcane arts. She eventually joined the Mages Guild as one of their most accomplished scholars.

"Why thank you, Manuelle. It's good to finally meet you, Zendar has told me many stories of your youth," she said warmly.

"I hope not _all_ stories," he let out a hearty laugh and Zendar joined in. Erina giggled behind her hand.

Manuelle, still laughing, noticed little Zenny behind his mother. "By the gods! You have a son!?"

"That's my boy alright," said Zendar.

"He looks just like you! Like a younger version of you when I first met you Zendar," Manuelle bent down to look at the boy. "Are you just as naughty as your dad was back then?"

"Hey now," Zendar said amused. Zenny was confused and a little scared of the big man.

"Can I go play outside?" Zenny asked his mother, tugging on her dress.

"Sure," she said.

"Hey look now, you scared him off," Zendar teased.

Zenny ran out the door and to the oak tree. He wondered if the boy from yesterday would be there. He'd show him how good he is with his sword and the boy would definitely be impressed then.

Instead, he found Swims-The-Seas lying in the sun. Swims-The-Seas' scales were greenish-brown, he had a row of tiny horns poking out of his brow line and four large horns toward the back of his head, two of which were curved while the other two were almost straight. A couple of feathers dotted his head as well and he had short and thick horns protruding from his jawline. His eyes were small but keen. Zenny wanted to tell Swims-The-Seas about the boy from yesterday but then he'd have to explain how good the boy was with magic so Zenny decided against it. Instead, Zenny said: "Let's go somewhere fun! Like that old cave you told me about that's near here."

"There's no way we're going there," Swims-The-Seas replied. He definitely did not want to endanger Zenny's life because he was quite fond of the boy.

"Come on, you always tell me about these amazing places and awesome adventures, I want to see it for myself!" Zenny was raised typically getting what he wanted, no one dared defy him even though he was a child. It was probably not because the townsfolk feared him as much they did his father and mother. No one would challenge the child of such established people which lead Zenny to become quite bratty at times.

"I said no," Swims-The-Seas answered sternly as to put an end to the conversation. Zenny did not know when to stop.

"Let's at least go do something then," Zenny compromised.

"Fine then, should we go to the vineyards?" There was nothing dangerous in the vineyards of Skingrad, the vineyards was within earshot of the city wall manned by the city guards and so bandits and other outlaws could not be found, even some distance away from the city walls.

"But I see it everyday it's so boring…" Zenny wasn't satisfied. Swims-The-Seas was getting impatient.

"Well it's that or nothing," Swims-The-Seas wouldn't mind spending some time with Zenny as long as he could keep him under control. Zenny finally acquiesced to the proposal and so they walked to a nearby hill overlooking the vineyards.

The two of them talked about battle and magic and Emperors and Kings. When the conversation stopped, Zenny suggested playing a game. It involved throwing a stone as close to another one as possible. Interested, Swims-The-Seas agreed. Zenny and Swims-The-Seas stood about a hundred feet apart with a relatively large stone in the in between them so that they were equal distances from it. They had both gathered a pile of stones and Swims-The-Seas had used fire magic to char his stones black so that they could distinguish their stones. Zenny tossed the first stone but it landed meagrely short of its goal. Next, Swims-The-Seas threw his stone with precision and power and it landed a few feet from the target. Zenny did not want to give up given his competitive nature and was determined to make a comeback. He put all his power into his next throw and catapulted it through the air. The stone flew a skewed path, the power he put in compromised his aim and the stone drifted far away to the side. Swim-The-Seas realised he would have to take it easy on Zenny which is exactly what the boy didn't want. Despite this, the game continued and Swims-The-Seas took the victory, though allowing Zenny to come close enough to feel satisfied.

When Swims-The-Seas walked toward Zenny he could sense something was off with the boy and so started to jog, as soon as he did Zenny turned on his heels and jolted in the opposite direction of the city. Swims-The-Seas' heart skipped a beat and he took after him, desperately calling to him to stop. The boy was wearing a brown tunic which was light and allowed him to move swiftly through the grasslands, he was headed towards the nearby woodlands. Swims-The-Seas was wearing banded iron armour as he always did and was carrying his trusted iron sword. Despite his encumbrance, he managed to keep up with the boy but could not catch up to him.

As Zenny entered the the woodlands, Swims-The-Seas lost track of him and once he was also inside the woodlands, he could not find the boy again. Swims-The-Seas was absolutely horrified. Years of serving with the Fighters Guild had made him accustomed to situations like this, however this was slightly different, he could sense danger coming. He recovered his composure and relied on his nose to guide him, although it was not as keen as that of a Khajiit, or Bosmer, he could still somewhat follow a trail. In the end, it was not his nose that revealed Zenny's location, rather it was his ears as a high pitched scream, undeniably Zenny's, echoed through the woods.

Swims-The-Seas bolted in the direction of the scream and came across a scene he had never hoped to see in all his life. Zenny was on all fours on the ground, coughing with an armoured outlaw standing over him like a bear over an injured fawn. The outlaw was a huge and broad figure, his helmet covered his face, but Swims-The-Seas knew it was an Orc as he was missing his left gauntlet and his green hand was visible, it was his only body part not covered in steel. Given his armour and build, he must've been some sort of bandit chief, luckily it seemed no other bandits were nearby. Swims-The-Seas was not sure of the bandit's intention, it may be to get a ransom for this boy or perhaps simply cause him pain. No matter his intentions, Swims-The-Seas was the only one who could save Zenny. Zenny was crawling away slowly when the outlaw picked him up by grasping his head. His green hand was so huge it covered the boy's entire head. With Zenny hanging at the end of the Orc's powerful arm, the helmet turned to Swims-The-Seas and for a moment Swims-The-Seas was frozen in fear. He regained his composure and drew his sword saying:

"Let the boy go or you will die," Swims-The-Seas needed to appear strong not just to intimidate the Orc but to give hope to Zenny. The Orc gave a burst of laughter, his voice was thick and monstrously deep. He said:

"Go tell this boy's parents I want one thousands septims for his safe return," the tone in his voice had become serious.

"If you know who he is then you'd be wise to let him go," Even though this Orc was a monstrosity and highly intimidating with his huge battle axe strapped to his back and plated heavy armour, Swims-The-Seas knew he would still be no match for Zenny's father.

"I don't think so," replied the Orc. He then tossed the boy to the side with ease sending him flying through the air. The boy collided with a tree and sunk down to the ground, unconscious. If one thing at least, Zenny did not have to see his friend die right in front of his eyes. Swims-The-Seas was no stranger to battle and held his own against many tough foes, however he did not know if he would survive this battle.

The Orc began charging at him, pulling a massive Orcish battleaxe over his shoulder. Swims-The-Seas readied his stance and lit a flame in his palm. He was quite adept at destruction magic. He shot a fireball at the charging Orc which didn't seem to do much other than blind him temporarily. Swims-The-Seas used this advantage to dodge to the side and swipe his sword at the monster. He aimed for the tendon behind the ankle and connected, however he did not have much momentum in his strike as he had just dodged and his sword only scratched the metal armour.

The Orc was now in the rage of battle, Orcs thrived in battle and Swims-The-Seas was running out of ideas. As the Orc recovered his stance from the charge, Swims-The-Seas sprayed constant flames from his hand at the monstrosity who was now coming at him again. The flames managed to slow him down a bit but did not stop him. Swims-The-Seas was moving backwards trying to keep his distance from the raging Orc when he suddenly backed into a tree. The Orc could see this and swept his huge battle axe horizontally. The Orc may be in a rage but he maintained a surprising level of battle savvy. Because Swims-The-Seas was backed against a tree, he could not evade backwards and a horizontal sweep of an axe would deny him evading to the left or right, leaving him with few options. The axe cut through the air and Swims-The-Seas thought for a moment he was dead but he fell to the ground at the last second to dodge the axe, one of his horns was neatly chopped off and the tree was struck.

For a moment, Swims-The-Seas thought the axe missed the tree because the axe wasn't caught in the trunk. As he was quickly planning his next move, the tree began to crack and then came down like thunder. The cut had been so powerful and precise, there wasn't even a sound of bark crunching from the strike nor did the trunk even seem to obstruct the path of the axe.

Swims-The-Seas immediately took the opportunity to put the collapsed tree between himself and the Orc. The tree was crashed down horizontally on the ground in front of Swims-The-Seas, the leaves and branches obscured his vision of the enemy when suddenly a mass of raging Orc burst through the leaves shouting unintelligibly. Swims-The-Seas knew he could not keep this up for much longer, he could not defeat his enemy by evading only, he was only delaying the inevitable. He knew he had to fight back. Swims-The-Seas stepped to the side to avoid the charge, it was easy to dodge because the Orc was so heavy, then Swims-The-Seas struck at the orc with an overhead maneuver, the Orc turned to face Swims-The-Seas and held out his battle axe horizontally, using its haft to parry the attack. The Orc pushed back on Swims-The-Seas' sword knocking him off balance followed immediately by an unrelenting headbutt, but Swims-The-Seas was fast enough to dodge it. With the Orc open, he lashed out with another strike. The Orc was in no position to block with his axe like before and was not agile enough to dodge, Swims-The-Seas aimed for the neck and went for the killing blow.

His sword stopped mid-air. Swims-The-Seas' was as surprised as he was horrified. The Orc had caught Swims-The-Seas' sword with his bare, green hand. It was his only way of avoiding death, his powerful, long arm was outstretched, the hand at the end of it would be incapacitated for the rest of the battle. Suddenly, the Orc jerked on the sword pulling Swims-The-Seas sharply forward with it, he was too surprised to react, and before he could recover he felt an explosion of pain on his face. The Orc had dropped his axe from his other hand and threw it at Swims-The-Seas like a battering ram as he was pulled forward by his sword. The Orc's mammoth strength sent the Argonian flying back and down into the ground with such force it created a small crater. Astonishingly, Swims-The-Seas was still conscious, but barely. It must be that Argonian resilience—but even that has its limits. His eyes were blurred and he was disoriented. He noticed his left eye going dark as blood from his head poured over his scaly face and over his eye. His ears were ringing, but he could make out the diabolical laughter of his foe blurred behind it. He awaited death. With his blurred vision he could see a massive battleaxe being hefted into the air by the powerful monster. It was at this moment, he heard a moan and a cough from behind him. He realized Zenny was regaining consciousness. This couldn't happen he thought, I can't let Zenny see this happen.

As the axe came down, time slowed. Swims-The-Seas realized his life was over and was contemplating whether or not he had lived to his own satisfaction. He thought of what he had accomplished and what he regretted. He thought about the people in his life, Zenny, Zendar, his guildmates, he thought why he never got married and he thought about his family he never knew. He thought of his Guildmaster, the man he looked to as his father, Drakin.

Drakin was a Dunmer, who came to Cyrodiil from Black Marsh. Despite being a Dark Elf, he was raised in Black Marsh in terrible conditions. His family belonged to House Dres centuries ago but were exiled from Morrowind for reasons Swims-The-Seas had never got around to asking Drakin. His family were banished to live in the swamps of Black Marsh and for generations they had suffered there. Drakin was different, he refused to continue suffering and abandoned his family. House Dres always made sure that Drakin's family never left the marshes so that all subsequent generations were made to suffer for a crime one of their ancestors committed. Dunmer politics had always confused Drakin which is why he had to find a new place to start over, where he could make a life for himself. Drakin ran from Black Marsh, keeping his heart cold to his family, they did not have the ambition he had and had not the courage to defy House Dres. Drakin was a teenager when he escaped, and on the way he found Swims-The-Seas, a fledgling Argonian fresh from the egg.

Drakin found him at his campsite one morning, some shell pieces were scattered around the campsite but it wasn't enough to constitute a whole egg, he must have hatched elsewhere. He had presumably gotten lost in the marshes and came to the light that was Drakin's dying fire.

That same day, Drakin took him along with him to try and find his parents or the place where he came from. Eventually though, he had to give up because he knew House Dres would discover he was missing and come to kill him. He couldn't risk not moving in a single direction, away from his family. But he couldn't abandon the Argonian.

They walked north-west for months, when they ran into the Lower Niben, they had no choice but to swim to the other side which is where Drakin found the inspiration when he named Swims-The-Seas. Despite being just a fledgling, the Argonian swam out in front of Drakin, who was not the strongest swimmer at the time. He would not have been able to cross the Lower Niben while having to drag Swims-The-Seas as well.

After a year of continuing to make their way north-west, they eventually reached Chorrol - one of the Major cities in Cyrodiil. At this point Drakin figured House Dres' influence was far behind him. It is in the Fighter's Guild in Chorrol where Drakin offered his life to serve, he had no skills but one: he was an expert with the sword. The fledgling Argonian was also committed to serve in the Fighter's Guild and so the two worked their way up the ranks. As Swims-The-Seas grew up, he grew curious of where he came from. Drakin was eighteen years old when he found Swims-The-Seas and at that age he was not experienced enough to understand the context of Swims-The-Seas' discovery. As Drakin learned more of Black Marsh and the Argonians over the years, mixed with his dealings in underground crime from his duties in the Fighters Guild, the prospect of something began bothering Drakin. However he did not linger on it, especially since Swims-The-Seas grew up to become the physical manifestation of a model member of the Fighters Guild: strong, level headed and courageous. He was molded by the Guild, he was the Guild, and he was happy with that. Suddenly he heard Zenny cough.

Swims-The-Seas snapped out of his trance. His life had just flashed before his eyes. Something felt off, _don't you die after your life flashes before your eyes?_ Why I am still alive? Swims-The-Seas' senses began to come back and he realized something. The blade of an axe was an inch from his snout. He quickly kicked himself back, away from the axe, scurrying on the ground. When he retreated back far enough, the scene became clearer to him. The Orc was frozen stiff. It looked like a paralysis spell. Swims-The-Seas looked to see if Zenny was okay, the boy was awake but his expression was one of absolute astonishment. His eyes were wide and shocked. He was clearly looking at something. Swims-The-Seas followed his gaze to find the source of Zenny's stupefy. It was a boy, the same size as Zenny. He looked drained, it was probably him who cast the spell. It must have drained a lot of his Magicka given the level of the spell. The stiffly frozen Orc was twitching slightly, no doubt the Orc attempting to free himself of his confinement. Swims-The-Seas was still digesting what was going on when the boy yelled at him.

"Kill him now!" the boy shouted with every fibre in his body. The boy wasn't armed and couldn't do anything besides cast spells. The final blow needed to be done by Swims-The-Seas. Swims-The-Seas' mind returned to him, the spell was waning, the Orc began quivering more. Swims-The-Seas dashed to his sword, he grabbed it off the floor but at that moment the spell was broken and the Orc was free. The Orc lashed out at Swims-The-Seas when a blade shot through his helmet. It went directly into the slit for the eyes. The Orc's arms went limp and fell beside his imposing body. The axe fell from his broken hand and dropped next to his feet. The Orc fell on his knees, Swims-The-Seas pulled out the sword accompanied with spewing blood, and with the same motion swiped it around striking the neck cleanly and severing the head. The head dropped back and rolled in the dirt, tiny fountains of blood spewed from the base of the neck and a sheet of red engulfed the once silver breastplate. Swims-The-Seas fell to his knees, then fainted with a thud.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Zenny burst through the city gates, running as fast as his injured body would allow. His clothes looked more like rags now, dirty and torn in some places. He was breathless but his body kept pushing forward. He clumsily navigated the streets, people in the street turned to look and recognized him, followed by whispers and looks of concern. Zenny found his home and burst into the house.

"Ma!" his shout was riddled with desperation. There was no reply, "Pa!", again no reply. His parents were not home, the next place he thought to check was the inn. They probably went there with Manuelle Zenny thought. He fell back into the streets running with more weight on one leg than the other. Zenny burst through the inn door. The music, laughter and conversation stopped and everyone turned to the disturbance. Erina's heart sank when she saw her son in his condition.

"Zenny! What happened!?" Erina shouted, standing up at her table along with Zendar. Manuelle kept sitting and looked on puzzled.

"Pa! You have to come now!"

Zendar burst out the city gates with his horse. It was a black steed, a magnificent beast, it's large and powerful muscles were defined by its shiny coat as it raced forward. Zendar was in a racing position on the beast, his body leaned forward, determined. His long black cloak fluttered behind him as he flew across the land. In the meantime Erina went to the chapel in order to inform the healers of what to expect. Zenny could do little but wait anxiously.

Zendar reached the edge of the forest. He dismounted his horse and quickly proceeded on foot. Zendar's invaluable training in the military made tracking the location of the scene easy. He instantly saw everything out of place on the forest: areas where leaves had been displaced in the pattern of footsteps, a broken twig, a snapped branch all led him to his destination. He came across the scene. When he saw the broken Argonian his heart sank. If it were not for this brave creature, his son would surely be dead. After his initial response, he noticed the boy next to Swims-The-Seas. Judging from his build and size, he could not be much older than Zenny but despite this, he was standing on guard as if to protect Swims-The-Seas. Zendar didn't know whether the boy could actually manage to defend Swims-The-Seas or if he was just in over his head like most boys his age. He would have guessed the latter but the fact that there was a decapitated Orc nearly the size of his horse made him think that Swims-The-Seas had a bit of help in the fight.

Zendar walked over to them, the boy took up a defensive stance.

"Relax, relax," said Zendar. I'm here to help. The boy wasn't convinced and remained suspicious. "Come, you must be exhausted. You can come back to the city with me, we must act quickly to treat his wounds." The boy was still on the edge. Zendar walked forward, the boy ignited a spell in his hands. Zendar could see the child was in a state of shock, he could not think straight but Zendar kept walking. He walked right past the boy who had been overcome by the heaviness of Zendar's presence. The boy quickly came to his senses and started to follow Zendar who was carrying Swims-The-Seas in his arms and walking back by now. The boy looked back at the decapitated Orc one last time then turned around and caught up with Zendar.

They arrived in Skingrad soon after, Zendar's horse carrying all three people with little effort. Zendar went straight to the chapel where the healing of the injured was done. Erina was waiting there with Lenaine Palielle, the head healer of the chapel and a couple of her subordinates. They got to work quickly, and took Swims-The-Seas into their care. They were used to this kind of thing happening. Adventurers, guards even children were often injured outside the city and always came to the the chapels for healing. While on the horse, the boy had noticed Zendar performing some restoration magic on Swims-The-Seas though he was not sure what incantation. Despite being a formidable magic user at his age, he was still a novice at restoration magic.

Lenaine thanked Zendar and reassured him all will be well. Zenny stood some distance away while still listening to what Lenaine had to say. He was trying to act inconspicuous as his embarrassment was still fresh. Once Zendar was done at the chapel and he was sure Swims-The-Seas was okay, he turned to Zenny. He looked at his son with mellow gaze. Zendar didn't know wether to be relieved or angry first. Suddenly he found himself to be disappointed. Zenny noticed it in his father's face and was even more embarrassed. Erina went over to Zenny and held him. It was an awkward scene, the many mixes of emotion, the strange boy looking on. Zenny was embarrassed and by now there were many onlookers in the street. His mother stood up and took him by the hand back to their house. Zendar looked at the boy who came with him, this child was special, he could feel it and if it wasn't for him, his son would be dead.

"You look like you could use a bath, boy."

"I don't need nothin'," the boy replied and started walking away.

"At least join us for a meal," Zendar wanted to somehow repay the debt he owed the mysterious child. He could see the proposition of a meal was enticing to the child. "You can eat as much as you want."

It didn't end up being much of a meal, at least not as a family. Erina had no appetite, Zenny had shut himself in his room and the boy sat on floor after refusing to sit at the table eating a bowl of stew Erina had given him. Erina went back upstairs to try and comfort Zenny. Zendar took a seat next to the boy on the wooden floor.

"What's your name boy?"

"Marlon," the boy said in between stuffing his face with his spoon.

"Where are your parents Marlon?"

"Don't have none." he said.

"I'm sorry to hear that. What happened?"

"Never knew them."

"Who takes care of you?" The boy stopped chewing, he looked at Zendar, cheeks still stuffed and gestured a firm finger at himself.

"You must be a brave young man, it's a harsh world out there," the boy kept eating. Zendar wanted to know more about this mysterious child. He was curious about his affinity with magic and the intensity he saw in him in the forest. "Did you help the Argonian in that fight?"

The boy grunted an affirmative grunt. "How did you do that?"

"I paralyzed the Orc and gave the Argonian an opportunity to strike." That struck even more interest into Zendar. He could tell Marlon was special given the aura he could sense from the boy but mastering a paralysis spell that could incapacitate that Orc at his age. This boy is truly special Zendar thought.

"How old are you, Marlon?"

"I dunno," Marlon said. Zendar should've guessed it, the boy never knew his parents and so wouldn't know when his birthday is. Nevertheless, Zendar estimated he was probably the same age as his own son, maybe a bit older. Something then started to bother Zendar about Marlon's story but he didn't linger on it.

"If you never knew your parents, how did you get your name?" Marlon chewed, then swallowed and began to answer when a ruckus upstairs interrupted him. Zenny came running down in tears, Erina close behind.

"I-I have to see if he's alright!" Zenny managed to say through his tears.

"He'll be fine, he's in good care, Zenny!" Erina tried to keep her son under control. Zenny was concerned for Swims-The-Seas. He also needed to do something to relieve his guilt. Zendar stood up and said:

"You're staying right here. You're not leaving this house unless I say so." Zenny was stricken, his face a mess of tears and mucus. After his crying paused, another wave of tears burst through and he ran back upstairs. Erina looked at Zendar and the boy on the floor. The boy looked back at Erina and said:

"You're a good mom, I wish I was as lucky as your son," Erina's heartstrings were pulled and she had to force herself to remain composed. For the first time she actually noticed the boy. He was unwashed, uncouth and calloused by the outside world yet could deliver such a compliment. She noticed his light brown frizzy hair and his green eyes. The freckles on his face were camouflaged among the dirt. Erina was a highly attuned mage and after her emotions passed she too sensed the uniqueness of this boy. The mystery of this boy was only deepening the more she looked at him. She was a compassionate woman, and her heart went out to this motherless boy. She saw his bowl was almost empty.

"Would you like some more?"

"Can I?"

"Of course." Erina took his bowl and filled it once more. When she gave it back to him, she gestured Zendar to follow her. They went into Zendar's study room. There were shelves filled with various books, an enchantment altar and an alchemy lab. The head of a monstrous cave bear served as a trophy on the wall. Zendar stood in the middle of the room and looked at his wife after she closed the door behind her. She was about a foot shorter than him, she had light brown hair and greyish blue eyes. Her mouth was frowning beneath her straight nose and her dark eyebrows pressed down concerningly on her brow. Zendar could tell what she was thinking.

"You know what I'm going to say," Erina said.

"I do."

"Should we?"

"I don't believe there's any legal restrictions."

"This is a huge decision, we're not going to talk about it more?"

"We both know there's something special about that child. I think it's for the best."

"What about Zenny?" Erina asked. Zendar was stroking the stubble on his chin. He looked at the fierce beast on the wall for a while. He finally replied:

"It'd be good for him."

"What about a real brother for him?" Zendar didn't expect that. He then smiled, and pulled Erina closer.

"We've never spoken about another child, why now?" Erina's cheeks flushed a bit.

"You were always so busy," Zendar felt a bit guilty because it was true. He stood there holding her for a good while longer.

It was not long after the incident in the forest when Marlon was adopted into the Lanius' family. His new name was Marlon Lanius. His adoption was a strange case. Normally, adoptions only occurred from orphanages and parents planned months if not years ahead of time for the adoption. Marlon was adopted from the wilderness and the procedure was done within a week. The community didn't quite understand why they would adopt the child but the Lanius' have always somewhat stood out from the community, they were always a bit different. Zenny was the only one who needed convincing, however it was not even a few weeks after the adoption when he started to get along with his new brother.

The 1st of Rain's hand marked two months since the incident in the forest and Zenny was a bit less energetic than normal this day. He had gone to see Swims-The-Seas everyday in the chapel until he recovered. Being a stubborn Argonian, Swims-The-Seas was back to normal within a few days. He returned to the Fighters Guild with more confidence as if his injuries made him recover stronger. Zenny did whatever he could to try and make it up to Swims-The-Seas by bringing him gifts of anything he could find. Swims-The-Seas usually accepted these gifts, yet Zenny could sense something changed between them. It was to be expected, such an incident would leave its scars on any relationship.

Swims-The-Seas remained friendly with Zenny but Zenny no longer found Swims-The-Seas outside by the oak tree. The effect that his actions have had on Swims-The-Seas and its effect on their relationship deeply hurt Zenny. It made him feel more guilty than he has ever felt in his life and at the same time it made him want to become a better person, this time not just stronger and bigger physically like he has always wanted, but in character. He realized that his gifts alone won't make it up to Swims-The-Seas, he didn't know if anything would, but he knew one thing, and that is that his same actions one day could bring him redemption.

Marlon was an interesting child. He was quiet but told the most amazing stories when prompted. He did his best to hide his emotions, his own way of declaring his strength as if showing emotions made him weak. He would still laugh at jokes or feel anger when Zenny cheated him in a game but he made it seem that he did not care for much. Zendar and Erina could see through this. Perhaps the loss of his parents, growing up without them, without their nurture and love, made him harder and calloused emotionally. Erina gained a deep sense of sympathy for Marlon. She wanted to give him the affection he had never had. It was very strange for Marlon at first, he did not know affection, but what he has received since he became a part of the Lanius family has begun to soften him emotionally, he became more open about his emotions and he became happier in general as a result. He became more and more like a normal child. And the Lanius's were just another normal family.

Since Marlon's adoption, Zendar kept wondering about the boy's origin. He had continued to ask Marlon about it learning that he got the name Marlon from priests at a chapel. The chapel was the first thing he could remember but he didn't stay there long. He remembered a long argument between a robed figure and the head priest at the chapel. The next day he was on a cart going somewhere else with the robed figure. He couldn't remember much only that the robed figure treated him well, better than he was treated at the chapel. His cart ended up being attacked by bandits and he saw the robed figure die. He was taken away back to a cave where he was adopted into the group of bandits. At the time Marlon didn't realise they were bandits but he knew they were bad people since they killed the man who treated him so well. He remembered that the bandits never hurt him but they did train him, with a sword and with magic. Marlon never liked being with them but he stayed there for what he would guess were months, perhaps a year. He was about five years old when he escaped from the bandits. He remembered that he was being chased. The same bandit who killed the robed man lead two or three other bandits. Something in Marlon snapped and he incinerated all of them instantaneously with an immensely powerful lightning bolt. He felt exhausted after that and didn't know where to go. Eventually he found a small cave, it was near a farm. For the next five years he survived by stealing some of the crops from the farm and killing some of the livestock. Someone who lived with the farmer was apparently a mage given some of the incantations she would practice outside. Marlon sometimes found spell tomes lying around when he went to steal a chicken or vegetables. He learned various spells as a result of this. However he never really used the spells he learned from the tomes. He'd use his magic rarely in general, and if he did, it would usually only be to cook his food or light a fire. When he demonstrated how to kill a bird in front of Zenny he was just showing off.

Zendar realized that there is massive untapped potential within Marlon given that his affinity with magic is so strong and that he never really had any proper training outside of a few bandits showing him some novice level spells. Zendar wondered if Marlon's abilities could be used to help people if he were to join the Mages Guild. When he brought the idea up to Erina she revealed she had also thought about it. They both thought it would be a good idea, however convincing Marlon was going to be hard. They decided they would wait for him to become completely settled in and used to his new life so that he could make the decision himself whether or not he wanted training in magic and if he wanted to join the Mages Guild. There was no rush of course, he was only eleven years old.

A few weeks after Marlon's adoption he had become relatively used to his new home and his new way of life. He spent the day playing with his brother and reading a book Erina recommended to him. It was called Daughter of the Niben. He was lying down on the living room couch reading his book next to Zendar who was also reading a book. Erina was deep in thought as she studied a complex, cube-shaped dwemer artefact. When it was time to go to bed, Erina told the boys to go upstairs and get into bed. She would usually go up and tuck them in, sometimes read them a story or sing a lullaby. Zenny came out from the basement and begged for an extra hour but his mother's word was incorrigible as always. Zenny slowly dragged himself upstairs, Marlon placed his book on the bookshelf and followed his brother. When Erina came out of the study room to put the boys to bed, Zendar closed his book then stood up and said:

"I got this, don't break your concentration. That cube is looking pretty complex," Erina grunted in her slight amusement then thanked Zendar and went back into the study. Zendar then followed the boys up to their room. Zenny was lucky if his parents let him stay up late, but even if he did, he would become sleepy not long after his usual bedtime. Marlon on the other hand was always ready to go to bed on time even as he became more comfortable in his new home. Zendar tucked Zenny into his bed.

"Sleep well my son," Zendar kissed Zenny's forehead. Zendar walked over to Marlon's bed. "You sleepy?" Zendar asked. Marlon nodded his head. Zendar tucked him in kissed his forehead and said: "Goodnight my son." As Zendar was leaving the room Marlon called out.

"Pa?" Zendar was surprised. It was the first time Marlon called him pa. Zendar walked back to Marlon and knelt by his bed.

"Yes?" Zendar asked. There was a short pause.

"Will I stay with you forever?" Marlon asked. Zendar was not expecting that and his emotions became a bit stirred. He wanted Marlon to feel safe and him to know he is part of the family.

"Of course, Marlon. You are part of our family and family never leaves anyone behind."

"Will I never have to be alone again?" Marlon asked.

"As long as I draw breath I will make sure you are part of this family."

"Promise?"

" _I promise,"_ Zendar said.


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

It was a chilly day on the 28th of First Seed. The sun was setting over the Colovian Highlands, causing the shadows of bristling leaves to dance across the verdure of the Great Forest. A stream trickled its way through the forest and passed through a clearing where two merchants and a mercenary were refreshing themselves with the fresh, cool water. They had a cart loaded with goods the merchants were transporting, and as with any amount of goods being transported, came the cost of hiring a mercenary to accompany the journey. It was very unusual for a cart to go unguarded especially one with goods. One of the merchants was an Imperial and the other a Khajiit. They were wealthy as they could afford a mercenary with a reputation. His name was Odar Bear-Killer, an imposing Nord, with traditional carved armour and a battleaxe mounted to his back. He stood more than a head over both the Imperial and Khajiit. The Khajiit said:

"We cannot linger too long, the sun has almost set and we still have more than an hour's journey to Chorrol." he had a calculating look in his eye. The Imperial looked thoughtful then spoke to the Nord.

"Do you think we can set up camp for the night?"

"Shor's bones no!" The Nord was slightly amused. "Have you never heard of the dangers of the forest?" The Imperial didn't like the condescending comment.

"That's why we're paying you two hundred septims, you fool." The Imperial fumed. He thought he could win the battle of wits, taking the Nord for a brainless brute. The Nord bent down to the stream and drank from his cupped hands. The water ran down his braided beard. He looked up at the Imperial who was looking at him with an anticipatory frown.

"Your ignorance speaks for you, Imperial. If we camp here, we will surely be robbed and perhaps even dead in the morning. The bandits come out of their caves at night and rob anyone who's foolish enough to be in the forest." Odar stood up, towering over the Imperial. Then walked on. "Besides, bandits aren't our only concern…" The Imperial was angry and humiliated but decided to shut up.

The two merchants got on the cart and whipped the two horses into action. Odar followed behind on foot, they were progressing slowly. They were traveling north-west to Chorrol. They came from the Imperial City on the Black Road. Though they diverted their route slightly as they traversed a few hundred yards into the forest in order to drink from the stream that did not pass the road. Few knew about the stream but still, there was a slight indication of a beaten path of others who have done the same. Now, they were on their way back to the Black Road to get to Chorrol.

Odar's eyes were peeled, he knew that a bandit attack was always planned and he'd have to react quickly. They were close enough to the road that it was visible beyond the trees some seventy yards away. Odar felt something was off but he said nothing. A few moments later his suspicion was confirmed when he saw a black figure move behind a tree. He put his hand on his battleaxe and stopped walking. The Khajiit looked back to see why Odar stopped moving.

"What in Oblivion is going on?" The Khajiit demanded.

"Keep moving, don't stop," said the Nord, eyes focused on something in the woods. The Khajiit followed his gaze and saw the black figure emerge from behind a tree. The Imperial saw it too.

"Go! Go!" he yelled and whipped the horses urging them forward as fast as possible. Suddenly a ball of fire blew past Odar and hit the cart, sending it into an inferno. The merchants jumped off and the horses frantically kicked and neighed, trying to free themselves from their harnesses. The Imperial's coat was on fire which he quickly discarded to the ground before making a break for it. Before he knew it, another black figure stood out in front of him and blasted him with flying arcs of electricity. The magic sent him flying back, his face was charred and his hair stood on end. He lay unconscious on the ground. The Khajiit had seen the figure that electrocuted the Imperial with his acute vision but saw no possible escape routes given the level of the enemy. He discarded his pride and knelt on the ground pleading desperately for mercy. His whimpers were silenced by the sound of thunder and a blue flash. Odar saw that the spell was not enough to kill the Khajiit and realized they wanted them alive. They were never after the goods. They were after their lives which only meant one thing. Necromancers.

Odar eyed his two enemies. He hated fighting mages, they always had the advantage against a melee fighter. They knew he was not going to be as easy as the other two. The figure that electrocuted the merchants blasted a bolt of lightning at Odar, but he threw his axe out in a blocking motion, capturing the bolt of lightning in the axe and then allowed it to dissipate into the ground by touching the handle to the ground. That was just to test my abilities Odar thought. The other figure shot a fireball, similar to the one the destroyed the cart, but Odar put his arms in front of him in the form of an X and the fire only grazed his armour. To his surprise one of the figures spoke out.

"Put down your weapon and come with us," Odar knew immediately it was an Elf. Odar hated Elves for many reasons. Their annoying condescending voices was one of them. While the Elf spoke, Odar noticed another figure in the forest, further back but pretended not to see him. "What's the matter? You know you can't defeat us both," the comment only made Odar more furious. He charged at the electrically-inclined figure. The figure took a defensive stance, moving backwards and cast a conjuration spell summoning a powerful shield onto his arm. Odar leapt but was thwarted but a blast of fire from the fire necromancer. He recovered his stance quickly, his braided beard was now half burnt away.

"You damned Elves have no honour!" Odar shouted.

"Honour?" The fire necromancer said, "Honour is nothing but foolishness!" The necromancer charged up a fireball in his hand then blasted it at Odar. Odar managed to jump aside, the spell continued and exploded a ways back, sending reverberations through the trees caused by the shockwave. Odar charged at the thunder mage during the chaos of the explosion. It caught him off guard but he had enough time to fire a paralysis spell at Odar. It hit Odar directly but he was unmoved, he completely resisted the spell and lashed out with his mighty battleaxe. In a last ditch effort the mage conjured up a shield but it was shattered against the might of the Nord. There was a black flash, but the axe continued down on the mage. It cut through his forearm and into his shoulder. The axe stopped only about halfway down the abdomen, and the once whole mage now leaned two separate ways with his left shoulder and upper arm leaning off to the side.

Then the Nord saw light pouring from the mage's corpse, his first thought that it was some illusion magic but he realized that the black flash just before his death was a soul trap spell cast by the fire necromancer to utilize the soul of his comrade. He turned to the necromancer, his eyes fell on the figure he saw before standing in the background. He had not moved. He turned his attention back to the more imminent threat.

"You Elven filth, your kind is worse than animals," Odar spat on the ground and raised his axe.

"Your words are harsh, Nord," the Elf said sarcastically. "We'll have your soul, it is a good one indeed."

Odar had heard enough, he charged at the fire magic inclined High Elf, the Elf held his ground longer than Odar had expected. Is he going to try and fight him in close combat? The Elf manifested a sword from thin air and held it vertically in front of him. Odar came in range and sweeped his axe. The Elf dodged back, and again when the axe returned from the other way, however the axe knicked his hood, cutting it open and causing it to fall. It revealed a face with eyes so black they looked like holes in his yellow face. His hair was long and brown and had become messy from the fighting, his pointed ears stood pointed up and out. Odar thought what a trophy those ears would make. The Elf fought fiercely and Odar was surprised at his ability. The Elf lunged his ethereal sword forward after one of Odar's swings and managed to lodge his sword in Odar's armour, but it was all part of Odar's plan. The blade took a second to unwedge itself from the armour and in that moment Odar grabbed the Elf's head with his left arm and forced his head forward. As the Elf's head came forward, Odar bashed it with his horned helmet. The blow sent the Elf into a ground either dead or unconscious. Odar hoisted his axe to finish the Elven filth. He brought it down with the weight of his ancestors backing him, he relished the moment, to kill a disgusting High Elf necromancer, no Nord could find greater pleasure in that.

Within the blink of an eye, everything changed. Odar's axe stopped mid-air. He was looking at the ground and saw a black robe, as he looked up he saw a strange red insignia on the robe and further up he saw a face. It was another High Elf. He had no hair, not even eyebrows. His eyes were golden yellow, his arm was outstretched and his index finger and thumb held the blade of the axe. Odar could not believe his eyes. Where did this power come from? He suddenly felt drained and he fell to his knees. The fire necromancer behind the mysterious figure coughed and spat out blood and a tooth. Odar would never yield, he pulled a dagger that was attached to his thigh and lashed out at the mysterious Elf. This time, an invisible force stopped him and he could not move no matter how much he struggled. Then the mysterious Elf spoke in a surprisingly calm voice.

"Lord Mannimarco will be pleased with this one." He looked down at his beaten comrade "I'm not so sure I can say the same about you."

Odar woke in a cage. He looked around and saw others in cages as well. They looked skinny and weak. They were in a wet cave lit by torchlight, he could be anywhere. Odar had shamed himself and his name by losing to an Elf and no longer wanted to live. He then heard noises from further into the cave.

Lovilian dragged Faenyl into Mannimarco's chamber. Faenyl had suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of a Nord and he knew his punishment would be severe. Mannimarco was at a desk reading a tome. He had long hair, white as ash. His eyes were sharp and silver, they showed no emotion. He wore a long black cape with spiked, black pauldrons under it. In the centre of his armoured chest was large red insignia comprised of a skull and two skeletal hands above daedric runes. His staff was leaning against the table, it had a skull at the top and was adorned with all sorts of bones. Mannimarco was the most feared necromancer in the history of Tamriel. Most believe he is dead, but he has been operating in the shadows for a very long time. Two-thousand years ago, he was responsible for the events of the Planemeld that nearly destroyed the entire world. Mannimarco was thwarted, but it didn't stop his evil ways and since then he has been involved in numerous sinister plots to further his own power.

"My Lord Mannimarco," Lovilian said obsequiously.

"Ah, Lovilian. How was your expedition? Did you find any good test subjects?"

"More than that, my lord. I think you'll be quite pleased," Lovilian glanced at Faenyl. "One of them put up quite a fight didn't he Faenyl?"

"I'm glad you were there my lord Lovilian, you are most powerful," Faenyl groveled.

"Where is Korthius?" Mannimarco asked, making a connection between a powerful foe and a missing servant. Faenyl fumbled in his robes and produced a black soul gem. Mannimarco understood. "Give it to me," Faenyl obliged immediately. Mannimarco grasped it and it levitated in his palm. The gem began to vibrate and glow and the energy inside was released. Mannimarco absorbed it, light poured into his mouth and eyes. When he finished, the soul gem was no longer glowing. Mannimarco said:  
"He was pathetic wasn't he?"

"Most pathetic my lord" Lovilian agreed and Faenyl nodded as well.

"I can see you're not well Faenyl, did the enemy really manage to injure you?"

"I let my guard down my lord, I would have crush-"  
"I want to see this enemy." Mannimarco said, cutting Faenyl off.

"This way my lord," Lovilian escorted Mannimarco to the cells.

Odar heard footsteps then saw three figures. The other victims in the cages gasped and cried softly in terror when they saw Mannimarco. He stood between his two servants. Odar had never seen him before but felt he had a powerful aura around him and Odar was, for the first time in his life, intimidated.

"Fascinating, truly a marvelous specimen." Mannimarco said observing the once imposing Nord.

"He's even stronger than he looks, but still he stood no chance against me." Lovilian added the last part to gain some credit with Mannimarco, he was already second only to Mannimarco in their cult, but keeping him aware of this could do no harm Lovilian reasoned.

"Indeed your powers are formidable my loyal Lovilian, few in Tamriel could stand against you," Mannimarco played along. Suddenly Odar shouted passionately.

"Talos! Head me your strength and I will cut these vermin down where they stand! Talos! Almight-" Odar was suddenly quiet, it seemed as if he was being constricted by an invisible snake, he could barely breath and there was a heavy force around him. The veins in his neck were bulging and his eyes became bloodshot.

"What was that, mighty Nord?" Mannimarco said sarcastically. He came in close to the bars so that their faces were mere inches apart. The Nord's face was becoming blue and was twisted in agony as opposed to Mannimarco's calm and expressionless face. Mannimarco whispered slowly "Your god cannot answer your plea because _I am above him._ "

Suddenly the pressure on the Nord was released and he fell to the ground. Broken in body and spirit. Mannimarco left the chamber, his villainous chuckle echoed through the cave and even more so in Odar's mind as he walked away.

The next day Mannimarco summoned Faenyl to his chamber. Faenyl was hoping he was going to forget about his defeat at the hands of the Nord but Lord Mannimarco never forgets. Mannimarco was seated at his desk, reading a tome and did not look up to speak to Faenyl.

"Tell me what happened in the forest Faenyl." Mannimarco was unpredictable. Faenyl was cautious but complied and explained what happened.

"I see, the Nord is quite formidable. Still, I'm disappointed." he looked up from his book "And this isn't the first time you've disappointed me Faenyl," Mannimarco's eyes struck a fear into Faenyl's heart that was like no other, for a few seconds he could not breath, his heart was beating rapidly beneath his ribs and he broke out in a cold sweat. Ten years ago Faenyl had failed in a very important mission, one which, if successful, could have changed the course of history itself. For some reason, Mannimarco was very adamant that Faenyl should be the one for this task, a seemingly average member of the order. Most didn't understand the reasoning, if the mission was so important, why not send the best? At the time, Faenyl was determined to prove himself as a member of the cult. He had already been part of the cult for fifteen years before that but he never had any recognition and he saw this mission and his gateway to the upper echelons of the order. It ended, as most other members expected, in complete failure which resulted in Mannimarco banishing Faenyl's soul to the Deadlands, the plane of Oblivion ruled by Mehrunes Dagon. There his soul was tortured for five years without stop until Mannimarco brought him back. The fear Mannimarco instills in his servants ensure their utmost loyalty. Faenyl was dead afraid of Mannimarco but he did have a way to save himself. He was going to tell Mannimarco about the boy from ten years ago. Faenyl has worked tirelessly for five years, to make up for his failure, he had chased every lead he got and he believes he may have finally found the boy.

"M-My Lord, I know of my failure but, I-I bring you news I feel will make my failure seem i-irrelevent."

"Is that so?" Mannimarco was no longer reading his book, Faenyl had captured his attention. Faenyl knew if the information he was about to give Mannimarco was false, he would receive a punishment far worse than death, something he couldn't even imagine. Nevertheless, he held his breath then said:  
"I think I know where the child from ten years ago is." For the first time in his life Faenyl saw Mannimarco eyes express an emotion—it was a mix of surprise and desperation. He knew now more than ever that failure was not an option.

"Where is he?" Mannimarco said after quickly regaining his cool.

"I believe he is near Skingrad. About a month ago I was following up on a lead I had on the boy and…"

"And what?"

"I heard strange whispers, like a god or daedra in my ear… it told me where to look, it told me... where he is." Mannimarco's mouth formed a slight smile almost as if he had expected this.

"Then you must go at once," his voice became slightly quieter, "this time do not fail me."


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

On the 19th of Rain's Hand, it had been more than two months since Swims-The-Seas had been injured in the forest. He was with Drakin in a cave somewhere in the Colovian Highlands. The highlands were now a vibrant green as lively trees and vegetation sprawled across the landscape, the effect of springtime in Cyrodiil. The lively exterior of the landscape contrasted deeply with the dead interior Drakin and company found themselves in. Normally Drakin, the Guildmaster, would not be out in the field as often, however they had received several reports in the last couple of weeks about this cave and Drakin didn't want the job going astray - especially with the money that was promised to them. Many local people in the area had saved up money to put together to pay the Fighters Guild well.

With them was Arngorn, a Bosmer. He was an apprentice in the Fighters Guild and insisted in joining Swims-The-Seas and Drakin. Swims-The-Seas held the third highest rank possible in the Fighters Guild as a Guardian. Angorn probably saw this as an opportunity to impress his higher-ups. He was quite good with a bow as most Wood Elves were but he also used to be a hunter. He ended up joining the Fighters Guild since he never really enjoyed hunting and decided to put his skills with the bow to use elsewhere.

"Something about this place doesn't feel right," Drakin said. Swims-The-Seas and Angorn trailed behind Drakin cautiously. The creepy bone formation outside the cave definitely caused some uneasy feelings among them. Drakin had an ebony sword in his right hand and a fire spell in his left. He wore a full set of plated steel armour, he usually only puts on his helmet during field missions. Swims-The-Seas was wearing his usual banded iron armour with his iron sword in his right hand and a torch in his left to help them see in the darkness. Arngorn was like Swims-The-Seas' shadow moving silently behind him, he wore a set of leather armour with a hood covering most of his face. His hunting bow was ready with a steel arrow.

Despite them moving so quietly, the echoes seemed to make everything sound louder especially in the dead-quiet cave. The area of the cave in which they were was shaped almost like a tunnel so they had only one direction to move in. As they moved on, something huge crawled in the shadows behind them. It made no sound. As they progressed, Arngorn suddenly turned on his heels when he thought he heard something behind him. He couldn't make out anything and turned back around. At that moment a fireball came flying from Drakin's hand. At first Arngorn thought Drakin shot it at him then he saw a massive spider fall from the ceiling of the cave right in front of him, engulfed in flames. The spider was still alive and it lashed out with its fangs at Arngorn who managed to jump back and avoid the attack. Swims-The-Seas was quick on his feet and slashed three of the spider's legs off. The now mutilated spider continued to drag itself towards Arngorn who was continuing to back up, at the same time he had readied his bow and shot an arrow directly into the mouth of the spider. With that, it stopped moving.

The three stopped for a second to process what just happened.

"Well then, I guess that's that?" Arngorn said, the relief could be heard in his voice.

"Don't be foolish Arngorn, you think we're being paid a thousand gold to get rid of a spider?" Drakin said.

"Well I don't see anything else here,"

"We've yet to go deeper. Besides… spiders don't make me feel as uneasy as I am right now," Drakin turned back around and they continued. Arngorn was disappointed, he'd really hoped that that would have been the end of this mission. He was starting to wish he had never insisted on coming with them.

The tunnel formation of the cave ended and they came across an open space with beds, cupboards, enchanting tables and alchemy labs in it.

"Clearly this place is occupied," Swims-The-Seas said looking around.

"Indeed," Drakin agreed. "We must exercise extreme caution from now on." Arngorn's Bosmer ears picked up a sound.

"Did you hear that?"

"What?" Swims-The-Seas asked.

"Not sure, but it came from behind that door," Arngorn pointed to a door that was built into the surrounding cave at the opposite side of the room. Drakin opened the door and the three of them went inside. Again the cave was shaped like a tunnel and they moved forward. The sounds became more apparent and they could all hear it now. It was a strange sound, not something you would hear ordinarily, Drakin guessed it must be some sort of a spell being practiced. They kept moving forward.

After a while, they came across another door at the end of the tunnel and the sound was clearly coming from right behind it. It came around every ten seconds. Drakin said:  
"Follow my lead," Drakin burst through the door. He saw three hooded figures. One of them was casting some sort of a spell at a man chained to the wall. The figures were caught by surprise and quickly took offensive stances. Clearly they did not care for negotiation or questions as one of them instantly lashed out with arcs of electricity flying from his hands. Drakin threw up a ward spell and blocked the lighting. Meanwhile Arngorn was still in the tunnel behind them, he had not gone out into the room, instead, he stayed in the shadows. He pulled his bow, took aim, then released. The arrow flew past Swims-The-Seas and Drakin and hit one of the figures in the shoulder. Arngorn was aiming for the chest but at least he hit the body. The figure let out a cry, fell down and held his shoulder. Drakin could tell one of them was a woman, she blasted a whirlwind of ice towards them. Drakin and Swims-The-Seas had enough time to jump to the sides. Arngorn fired another arrow, this time at the female figure. He missed, but barely. They now knew where he was. Suddenly, the injured figure disappeared. He used an invisibility spell. This worried Drakin, he didn't know if he was going to escape or if he was going to attack when they least expected him. Nevertheless, Drakin knew he needed to do something quick. He pulled out a dagger from his belt and let down his ward for a second in order to throw it. Despite being hit with the lighting, his throw was clean, he pushed through the pain and was unhindered. The dagger flew and landed buried in the face of the figure who was blasting the lighting. He dropped dead. Swims-The-Seas took the opportunity to blast a fireball at the distracted female figure, she quickly dodged backwards. She landed next to a weapon rack where a staff was kept. She blasted two more icy whirlwinds in their direction to distract them while she grabbed the staff. As soon as her hands grabbed the staff an arrow hit it and threw it out of her grip, before she could recover Swims-The-Seas had his sword to her throat. She stopped moving, knowing if she did this Argonian would cut her neck wide open.

"Keep an eye out for the other one," Drakin said. Swims-The-Seas tied the woman's arms behind her back and kicked her hamstrings to force her on her knees. Drakin walked up to her and yanked her hood off, exposing a surprising beautiful Breton woman auburn hair. After making eye contact with those who defeated her, her face wrinkled in disgust then pulled her gaze to the floor.

"Arngorn, check on the man in the chains," Drakin ordered. Arngorn ran over to him and inspected the man.

"What's going on in here?" Drakin said with a slight tone of arrogance in his voice. The woman spit on the floor and said:

"Kill me and send my soul to our moon," Drakin wasn't sure what she was talking about.

"We're not going to let you die so easily, you're going to talk first." Drakin pulled a sharp and small implement from his satchel. He moved it right towards her face.

"Get… out… of here," a weak voice muttered. It was the man who was chained to the wall.

"What do you mean?" Arngorn asked.

"What were you doing to him you necromancer filth?" Drakin demanded. The woman looked up at Drakin and smiled diabolically.

"Soon the whole world will know the power of the King of Worms!" she laughed hysterically. Drakin was frozen stiff. If what she was saying was true. Every person in Tamriel was in danger. He took his implement and stabbed her in the leg. She cried out in pain.

"What was going on here!?" Drakin demanded. The woman, in her pain, lashed out toward Drakin and tried to bite him. Swims-The-Seas quickly pulled her back. Her red hair was covering her face and she kept laughing. She must be truly insane Drakin thought.

"You know, that guy in the chains was a real brute. He lasted far longer than we anticipated," She continued to laugh. Drakin looked on in disgust.

"We're not going to get anything from her, besides our job was to stop whatever was going on in here. We're done, take care of her." Drakin stood up and walked toward the man in the chains while Swims-The-Seas slit the woman's throat. She bled out on the ground with an unnerving smile on her face.

"It's bothering me that one of them got away," Swims-The-Seas said.

"He's probably going to report this to his higher ups, we can expect more trouble from these necromancers in the future. We should inform the Mages Guild, this is not our area of expertise." Drakin said before kneeling down before the chained man. He was in terrible shape, he was in rags, his arms were like twigs and you could see the outline of his skull in his face. His mouth was dry and his skin was covered in bruises. They got him out of the chains and brought him outside the cave. Drakin assessed the daytime they had left and said:

"The closest city is Chorrol. We'll set up camp somewhere safe nearby. We'll set off to Chorrol first thing in the morning."

They didn't learn much from the man at camp since he barely spoke, only that his name was Odar and that he was captured by powerful necromancers.

The next day, they arrived in Chorrol. The healers quickly got to work with Odar, the head healer told Drakin that the odds of him surviving would be quite low. Despite this, the healers did their best. Healing of the sick and injured was done at the expense of the Chapels in Cyrodiil and they kept the patients until they had recovered or, under more unfortunate circumstances, passed away.

After they dropped off Odar at the chapel, they stayed in Chorrol to visit the Fighters Guild in the city. This was the guild in which Swims-The-Seas grew up in, it was always a nostalgic experience for him coming back to Chorrol. Drakin had official guild business to do while they were here. Despite the unexpected nature of their arrival in Chorrol, it seems the Guildmaster always had something to do. In the meantime, Swims-The-Seas and Arngorn were indisposed.

After they exchanged pleasantries with their fellow guildmates, Swims-The-Seas and Arngorn left to wander the town a bit. Chorrol was beautiful. The Fighters Guild was one of the buildings forming the cul-de-sac around the magnificent great oak tree. They talked to some of the townsfolk to hear what some of the latest news was in Chorrol. A local man said:

"Can you believe the future Emperor Uriel Septim VII is already six years old? My, it feels like just yesterday when we celebrated his birth. I pray he is as just a leader as his father."

Pelagius Septim IV was the current Emperor and was well liked by the people. He had good values, though some accused him of being too soft. Despite this, with the exception of Morrowind, his diplomatic ways has done quite well thus far in uniting Tamriel under the Empire. Swims-The-Seas thought how ironic it was that despite the relative peace throughout the Empire, necromancy and other abominable practices were still wreaking havoc across Tamriel.

Swims-The-Seas and Arngorn continued onward, Arngorn asked if he could go into the general goods store so that he could pick up some new bowstring for his bow. As they walked into the store, a familiar face walked into Swims-The-Seas. For a moment the chubby man and Swims-The-Seas stood still trying to put names to each other's faces. It went on a moment longer than was comfortable and Arngorn interrupted:

"Do you two know each other?"

"Where do I know you from?" Swims-The-Seas asked as a revelation came upon the man's face.

"Swims-The-Seas! Is that right?" The man was smiling and was proud he could remember the name.

"Yes, that's me. What's your name, friend?"

"I'm Mannuelle! Zendar's friend."

"Ahh, that's why I know you, though I don't believe we've had a conversation before."

"That's right, Zendar only told me about you and we went to check on you while you were injured." Swims-The-Seas suddenly remembered the scene.

"Ah, Now I remember, I was too weak to talk to you but I did see you that's why I recognized your face but didn't know the name."

"Indeed, and it seems you have recovered well since we last saw one another."  
"Luckily, yes." Mannuelle saw Swims-The-Seas' tone and body language change slightly when he mentioned his injuries and so decided to change the subject.

"So what brings you to Chorrol?"

"We were on some Guild business and ended up in the area."

"Oh, interesting. Whereabouts were you?"

"In a cave about six hours walk southwest."

"That's quite a ways away, and cave no less huh? I don't even want to know what you did in there, I will never understand you adventurous types." Manuelle said lightheartedly. Swims-The-Seas let out a slight pity-laugh.

"Trust us, you don't want to know." Manuelle noticed Arngorn. "This is Arngorn, a new member at our guild. He's quite reliable though." Swims-The-Seas introduced him.

"I don't doubt it, I wouldn't want that bow pointed at me," Manuelle laughed loudly. Arngorn and Swims-The-Seas smiled slightly, Manuelle was quite overbearing.

"I assume you're in town for business, the same as in Skingrad." Swims-The-Seas said.

"Correct, I'll be here for a few more nights before I return to Skingrad for a while and then finally back to High Rock, however if you're also staying here we could go to the tavern and have a drink perhaps," Swims-The-Seas definitely did not want to have a drink with Manuelle, he found him to be a bit too much.

"I'm afraid we'll be heading out later today."

"To Skingrad?"  
"Yes."

"I'd recommend taking the Black Road then the Gold Road, it's longer but safer."

"That was what we were planning."  
"Good lad," Manuelle gave Swims-The-Seas a hand on the shoulder as he walked by. "When next we meet gentlemen, when next we meet!" Mannuelle held his hand in the air as he walked away. Arngorn and Swims-The-Seas stood looking at him walking away for a moment, both were slightly taken aback by Manuelle's mannerisms.

"What a strange man," Arngorn said. Swims-The-Seas wondered how that man became friends with someone like Zendar, they're polar opposite people.

Arngorn ended up buying three bowstrings since it was so cheap. It wasn't just ordinary bowstring either, it was handspun from Valenwood, the best bowstring to be had. The store owner said that it was due to the good economic policies of the Empire. Since Valenwood was part of the Empire, goods being transported into Cyrodiil were subsidised resulting in the good prices. Arngron was glad his people remained part of the Empire, it made a lot of things easier for a lot of people, workers in Valenwood benefit since they have more jobs, and the buyers in Cyrodiil benefit since they have cheaper goods. These were some of the few benefits of being governed by a wealthy Empire.

The two met up with Drakin under the great oak tree who had just finished speaking to a member of the Mages Guild.

"I told them about our necromancer issue and they seemed very concerned. Micano, the head of the Mages Guild here in Chorrol, said he would raise it to the headquarters in the Imperial City as soon as possible."

"It's in their hands now," Swims-The-Seas said.

"For now," Drakin looked away and thought for a bit. "We need to learn more from Odar."

"By the time he recovers we'd be back in Skingrad," Arngorn said.

"I'll ask the healers to tell Odar to explain everything that's happened to him to the Mages Guild once he's recovered," Drakin said.

"If he recovers," Swims-The-Seas added grimly.

"Yes. If." Drakin stood awhile in thought. "Now then, it's noon now, if we start on the Black Road we might reach an inn near the Imperial City before sundown if our carriage maintains a good pace." After explaining what to do to the healers at the chapel, the three Fighters Guild members hired a plain open-back carriage and set off on the Black Road. The Black Road was the road that connected Chorrol and the Imperial City. The Imperial City was the largest city in all Tamriel. It is found on an island in the middle of Lake Rumare in the geographical center of Cyrodiil. The lake acts as a natural moat around the city. The most striking feature of the city was the White Gold tower, constructed by the ancient Ayleids in an era long ago. It rose from the middle of the city in the shape of a single pillar as if it held up the sky above. The rest of the city was arranged in a circular fashion around the tower with several different districts. The entirety of the city was surrounded by huge walls, eighty feet high which also sectioned the city into its different districts. The city was always bustling with people and industry. Drakin never really liked the Imperial City, he found the crowded nature of the city to be too distracting. Luckily they weren't even going to enter the city but rather stay at an inn on the outside of the city walls.

They were about three hours into their journey and about halfway to their destination. Arngorn was fast asleep, Swims-The-Seas was gazing over the horizon and Drakin was reading a book. Suddenly there was a thump and it was as if the carriage ran through a deep pothole on the road. Drakin's book fell to the floor, Arngron was awakened, confused. Swims-The-Seas looked over the front of the carriage and saw the driver was missing. Then his body was seen emerging behind the carriage, they had just run him over.

"What in Oblivion!?" Arngorn yelled. "Did he fall asleep and fall off!?" Drakin considered the idea but that was just too far fetched. The horses kept pulling the carriage but seemed to be slightly shaken.

"Let's get off," Drakin said.

"Are you sure?" Arngorn asked.

"Yes," Drakin lept from the carriage and fell on the ground with a tumble to break his fall. He was quickly followed by Swims-The-Seas and Arngorn. The three of them remained on guard and cautious.

"I'll go check on the driver," Swims-The-Seas said.

"Let's stick together." Drakin said. They moved together on the road. It was in the middle of the afternoon and the sun was shining brightly, if these were bandits, they must have some nerve Drakin thought. They came across the body of the driver. His limbs were bent in unnatural ways, completely broken, however this was not what concerned Drakin. There was an arrow sticking into his gut. Swims-The-Seas turned the body around so they could see his face. To his horror it was purple and bloated, the veins were dark and visible as well. Foam ran from his mouth and his eyes were bloodshot. What a terrible poison that must have been to take effect so quickly Swims-The-Seas thought.

Without warning an arrow glided through the air, it grazed Arngorn's arm. He let out a cry of pain. He quickly tore his sleeve from the cloak he was wearing over his leather armour and tightly tied it around the wound. In the meantime, another arrow had come from the same direction but missed. Suddenly a hooded figure burst out from a bush at the side of the road followed by three or four more appearing out of hiding spots. They charged the at the three guild members. Drakin and Swims-The-Seas unsheathed their swords and got ready. A dagger plunged towards Drakin, he grabbed the arm holding it and pulled in the same direction, sending the attacker to the ground. Swims-The-Seas was parrying blows by two of the hooded figures who were attacking him, the last one went for the injured Arngorn. The hooded attacker swung a sword at the unprepared Arngorn. It was deflected mid-air by Drakin's blade. Arngorn was frozen stiff for a few moments as if he could not believe he was still alive. He quickly came to his senses and pulled out his steel dagger from his belt.

One of the figures attacking Swims-The-Seas kicked him to the ground but Swims-The-Seas managed to grab onto the attacker's leg with his tail, bringing him down with him. It was a four versus three scenario. Drakin used an alteration spell hardening his armour, then yelled at Arngorn to go help Swims-The-Seas. Arngorn immediately complied. This left Drakin against two foes: the one he threw to the ground, who Drakin assumed was the one firing the arrows since he had a bow and quiver on his back, and the one who nearly killed Arngorn. Drakin readied his sword for the assault. The two attackers jumped forward and began swiping their sword and dagger at Drakin. Drakin parried each blow precisely, he was extremely focussed in battle.

In the meantime, Swims-The-Seas and the attacker he brought down with him were in a brawl on the ground, they were at each other's throats, rolling around. Arngorn wasn't very comfortable in face-to-face combat so he merely tried to stall the other attacker by dodging attacks and backing up. Suddenly he felt slightly off balance and his vision blurred a bit but he maintained his fighting stance and continued to dodge attacks.

All of the attacker's were wearing black leather armour with hoods concealing their identities. Drakin realised that they weren't dealing with bandits but rather with assassins.

Drakin was still fending off blows with his sword. One of the attackers blade hit his leg, but Drakin didn't sustain much damage thanks to his spell. He was waiting for one of the attackers to drop their guard, while at the same time not leaving himself open to the other attacker. The opportunity came faster than Drakin anticipated. The one attacker was reading a heavy attack by heaving his sword in the air over his head while the other attacker's attack was just dodged by Drakin. This meant he had a window of a fraction of a second to strike. In the next moment a sword pierced through the man heaving his sword and the moment after that, Drakin had already pulled his sword out and readied his defense for the blow from the other attacker.

Swims-The-Seas managed to roll himself on top of his foe. Both of them had dropped their weapons since swords were useless in brawl on the ground. Swims-The-Seas hands gripped the attacker's head with all his power. HE brought the attacker's head up from the ground then bashed it down with all his strength. He could feel the man lose strength in his struggle against him so he did it again, and again, and again. The man stopped struggling, Swims-The-Seas hands were coated in blood and so was the dirt. He quickly turned his attention to the other attackers, Drakin was still fighting but Swims-The-Seas could see he had the upper hand, so he turned around to see what Arngorn was doing. To Swims-The-Seas utmost shock, Arngorn was on the ground, and the attacker was going in for the final blow. Swims-The-Seas blasted a fireball at the attacker but he didn't have enough time to charge it enough. The small fireball didn't do much against the attacker and his blade buried into Arngron's chest. Swims-The-Seas let out a cry as he ran over to stop the attacker. He had picked up both his sword and the sword of the attacker he killed. He lashed out with fury, the assassin who killed Arngorn was desperately defending the flurry of attacks being thrown at him. Their blades locked in the air, both of their arms stretched upwards, Swims-The-Seas then threw all his strength into his swords and pushed the sword of his enemy down, with his attacker's sword out of the way, Swims-The-Seas lunged forward and caught the attacker's head in between his jaws. Argonians had rows of small serrated teeth, it was almost impossible to escape their jaws. Swims-The-Seas dropped one of his swords to grab the arm on the attacker that held his sword. With that, the attacker was defenseless and could do nothing against the jaws clenching down on his head. Swims-The-Seas bit down harder and harder until he heard cracking, but he did not stop and then there was a gruesome explosion of blood, brains and bone. Swims-The-Seas pulled his head back and spat out pieces of bone and brains. The limp body fell to the ground, where there was once a head was now a mutilated, disfigured mass of flesh and bone inside the hood that once covered a whole head. Swims-The-Seas turned his attention to see if Drakin was okay. Drakin's foe was dead on the ground with a missing arm and Drakin was attending to Arngorn. Swims-The-Seas rushed over.

Drakin was using restoration magic desperately. Swims-The-Seas quickly applied pressure to his wound but something seemed off with Arngorn. It seemed the blade missed his heart and lungs narrowly, but Arngorn was in worse shape than he should be even with his wound.

"It's the poison!" Drakin exclaimed, surprisingly emotional. Swims-The-Seas rushed up and searched the bodies of the dead. He hoped by some miracle one of them was carrying an antidote. He didn't find anything. Swims-The-Seas rushed back to Arngorn and put pressure on the wound even though he knew it was futile. He saw how deadly this poison was when it acted on the carriage driver. Swims-The-Seas began sobbing as he held the wound which in turn made tears flow from Drakin's red eyes as he desperately tried healing his young guildmate. Arngorn began to mutter something.

"I-I'm proud…This… is a good death…" Arngorn's lips fomred a slight smile "In battle… I'm prou-" his last breath escaped him and his head bobbed back. He left two warriors sobbing in the middle of the road.


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

It had been a week since Arngorn's death. Drakin hadn't taken it lightly. He has spent all his efforts trying to figure out who sent the assassins and why. There were no clues on the bodies and he had no other leads. Swims-The-Seas rarely sees Drakin become so tirelessly invested in a task. It was because Drakin blamed himself for Arngorn's death, he gave the order to jump off the carriage which lead to them being attacked by the assassins. Swims-The-Seas was correct in saying that there were probably more of them further down the road in case they didn't jump off the carriage, those assassins probably escaped after seeing their comrades die. Drakin knew it was true but he still felt that things may have turned out differently. To lose an apprentice of the guild, under his own guard especially, made it very hard for Drakin. Drakin was slowly going insane trying to track down the assassins and Swims-The-Seas was becoming worried.

Zendar had heard about what happened. He did look through some of the Blades' intelligence but nothing came up, it was a long shot anyway but he wanted to try at least. Erina had also asked some of her connections throughout the Mages Guild but nothing came up. It was as if the assassins spawned right before they attacked.

Marlon had now been a part of the Lanius family for over two months. He has become a different child since the day he was adopted. He was happy, always playing and as smart as whip. Erina and Zendar were glad they made the decision to adopt him. Zenny seemed to benefit as well, the initial waves of jealousy had now ended and they got along like real brothers. Marlon would make a joke at the dinner table and Zenny would laugh so hard that his juice would spew from his nose. Erina read bedtime stories to both boys, who shared the same room, until they drifted off to sleep. In the daytime they would play outside, Erina would sometimes teach them about magic and Zendar, if he was home, would teach them swordplay.

Discussion about having another child between Zendar and Erina was had but they decided not to, at least for the foreseeable future. They were still young, Erina was still in her early thirties and Zendar only three years older.

Zendar was at the peak of his adult life. He had reached the pinnacle of his career quite soon but was still going strong. Zendar was away from home as much as he was home. Ever since Zendar became Grandmaster of the Blades two years ago, he had stopped going on as many adventures as he used to. He was an adventurer at heart and it was quite taxing on him sometimes to only be involved with politics and desk work. The few occasions when he does go into the field such as working as a bodyguard for the Emperor, nothing much happens. Sometimes he'd wish an assassin would try his luck on the Emperor, Zendar was always in the mood for a fight and he was itching for one slightly more than usual lately. Drakin was the only one in Skingrad who could make for a decent sparring partner, but since he has been so busy with guild work, and more recently, trying to track down the assassins, it's been a long time since Zendar's skills have been tested.

Zendar thought about his friend Manuelle, he was in Skingrad again for three more days before he is to head back home to Wayrest in High Rock. He thought at what a great sparring partner Manuelle would make if he could fight as well as he could swindle and persuade with the tongue. Nevertheless, Zendar felt good having an old friend in town.

It was Manuelle's last day in Skingrad, and he was finishing up the last bits of business he had to do in town, the deed for his purchase of his vineyards had gone through and the count of Skingrad, Baltus Rex, personally handed it to Manuelle. With his work done, he decided to visit his friends the Lanius' on his last evening in Skingrad.

Manuelle was welcomed into the house, he stopped by around once every two days while he was in town but he was too busy to stay too long. Today he had the entire evening to spend with them. He brought a bottle of wine and a freshly baked bread he got from the bakery with him. They spent a long time talking about various things, politics, recent events, battles that Zendar has been in, stories of Manuelle exposing con artists, spells that Erina was working on and many others. The two boys weren't so interested in the talking and instead played in the basement. There was a target dummy set up and the two boys were seeing who could land the most accurate shots with a bow.

The evening dragged on and the adults seemed to lose track of time in their conversations. Zendar realized it was getting late when he went to pour Manuelle another glass of wine but saw the bottle was empty. Manuelle realized this as well. Their conversations started coming to an end. Erina called the boys from downstairs to say goodbye to Manuelle.

"Come on!" Marlon protested. Zenny had ended up winning the game by nineteen bulls-eyes to Marlon's eleven.

"I won fair and square!" Zenny boasted in Marlon's face and laughed tauntingly. Marlon stopped caring and they boys went upstairs.

"Ah the big boys! Next time I see you, you might be as big as your dad!" Manuelle said.

"Or as big as Manuelle if you're not careful," Zendar said as he laughed. Everyone else joined in.

"Oh!" Manuelle exclaimed, interrupting his own laughter. "I almost forgot! I have a gift for the two boys, I bought it especially for you two," Manuelle reached into his vest and produced two striking amulets. At the end of one hung a red jewel and on the other a blue one.

"Oh, you didn't have to Manuelle," Erina said.

"But I want to," Manuelle looked at the two boys who were looking on curiously. "I know boys like you might think I must be crazy to give necklaces to boys, but let me tell you… these are _very_ special necklaces, in fact, they are actually amulets. You see these stones at the end of the amulets?" Manuelle brought the amulets close so that the boys could see it clearly. "They are enchanted with magical energy, pretty cool right?" The boys seemed infatuated with the amulets. "This one, the red one, will make you much stronger allowing you to take harder blows and survive fierce wounds. And this one, the blue one, will allow you to call upon more magicka than you ever thought you could." The boys mouths hung open. "So, who's whose?"

"I want the red one!" Zenny shouted

"I'll take the blue one," Marlon said.

"That's an amazing gift, say thank you to uncle Manuelle boys," Zendar said. The boys said thank you in unison. Erina said to Manuelle:  
"You're too kind, where did you get those?"

"Oh, it doesn't matter. What matters is that they are happy with their gifts and that it would serve them well. It could last them a lifetime." Manuelle said his final goodbyes to the Lanius' and was off back to High Rock.

A month after Arngorn's death it was a dark, rainy day in Skingrad; thunder roared in the distance and wind howled in the streets. The streets were empty save for a single figure. It was Drakin. Drakin finally had some time off, and as he promised Zendar, he'd come over for a bit of a sparring match. Zendar and Drakin rarely found the time to spar with one another, when one was free the other was almost always busy with work or out in the field. Both of them enjoyed sparring with the other, fighting someone skilled was the best way to hone your own skills and it's the main reason they became sparring-buddies with one another. Although they don't find the time to spar as often, over the years they have had many encounters. Out of all the times they have sparred, Drakin has never once been able to overcome Zendar. Sometimes Drakin couldn't believe the skill Zendar possessed. In Drakin's entire lifetime he has met only two foes that were stronger than him. They both had a lot of respect for one another, both being the heads of very large organizations, there was a mutual understanding between one another.

Drakin knocked on the Lanius' door. Erina opened.

"Drakin! Come in, come in," Erina gestured him in quickly.

"Thanks," Drakin came inside and hung his soaked coat on the coat rack.

"Zendar asked me to come over for a bit of a sparring match." Drakin said.

"Oh, but the weather's horrible. You sure?"

"A rare opportunity won't be missed because of some rain," Drakin said lightheartedly.

"Oh well, I guess it can't be helped," Erina said as Zendar walked into the room.

"Hello Drakin," Zendar was dressed in his training clothes, simple, light garments.

"It's good to see you Zendar," Drakin shook Zendar's hand. They both gripped firmly, almost trying to see who could grip harder as a prelude to their battle.

"Let's get it started shall we?" Zendar turned and gestured Drakin to follow him.

"Wouldn't you like some refreshments first, this is hardly a way to welcome our guest, Zendar," Erina said.

"Oh but it is how we welcome this one," Zendar chuckled.

By now the storm seemed to have gotten worse. Flashes of lighting outlined buildings with light followed by crackling roars of thunder. The rain was coming down hard and in waves guided by the strong wind. It was dark and cold.

Zendar stepped outside onto the porch followed by Drakin. There was a weapon rack that was fully saturated with all sorts of implements: axes, bows, warhammers, swords, claymores, daggers. Drakin didn't take any of those, he always carried his trusted ebony sword with him. Zendar picked up a fine steel sword from the rack. He stepped into the rain and began swinging the sword around, in order to warm up. As he sliced through the air, it was as if he was cutting open the rain. His elegant movements were amazing to witness.

The boys burst out the door onto the porch racing with excitement followed by Erina, this would be the first time Marlon got to see Zendar in battle. Drakin stepped into the rain and drew his sword. He felt the blade from the hilt to the tip and then raised it out in front of him. If he could beat Zendar in a sparring match, it would be a massive accomplishment for him.

Zendar kept swinging his blade in circular motions sending out reverberations of water droplets in crescent shapes, growing as they flew outward.

"Are you ready!?" Drakin shouted.

"Bring it on!" Zendar turned around and readied himself. Drakin launched forward with a heavy attack. Zendar parried and used Drakin's momentum to push him in the same direction. Drakin almost fell to the ground but kept his balance, he instantly turned around with another swipe, the blade flew horizontally and met with Zendar's blade which he held vertically in a blocking position. The impact caused the drops of water on Zendar's blade to bounce off. Zendar pushed back on the blade and kicked Drakin in the face. Drakin stumbled back and was almost caught off guard when an unrelenting blade flew towards him, he quickly dodged backwards, and again when the blade followed him again.

There was a rule that they wouldn't use magic and Drakin wondered if he would ever win if that rule wasn't in place, though he had heard Zendar had mastered ancient, master-level destruction spells. He wouldn't be surprised if he had. Nevertheless, they kept fighting. The sounds of their swords clashing was drowned out against the mighty storm. Splashes of water flew up from their clash. Although they fought with real weapons, they were skilled enough to stop their blades mere inches from actually striking each other.

Drakin lashed out with a calculated strike, Zendar countered and kicked Drakin's feet out from under him. A blade came down but Drakin rolled away, Drakin swung his legs up and with the momentum, jumped up back on his feet.

"You're something else Zendar," Drakin said with an entertained smile. "I'll get you one day."

"Why not today?" Zendar said, smiling. Zendar rushed forward this time, he moved so fast it was as if the entire world around him came to a stop, raindrops barely moving in the air. He feinted an attack to the left baiting out Drakin's guard before Zendar became a blur of speed. Before Drakin knew it, Zendar's blade was at his throat.

They both dropped their fighting stances and gave each other a firm handshake.

"Well done, Zendar, well done," Drakin said, laughing subtly while shaking his head. Drakin wasn't surprised, this is how it always turned out.

"You too my friend, now, if you have time we can warm up inside with some tea," Zendar ushered Drakin indoors. The two boys were frozen in amazement, especially Marlon, he had never seen movement like that before. Erina simply smiled and brought the boys inside.

Drakin and Zendar changed into dry clothes and came downstairs. Erina served some some tea and everyone joined her in the living room. The boys knew about Drakin and were interested to hear some of his stories about his adventures.

"Any leads on the Arngorn case?" Zendar asked as he poured himself some tea.

"Absolutely nothing," Drakin replied. Erina handed Drakin a cup of tea. "Ah, thank you."

"Careful, it's hot," Erina gave the boys a cup each and they settled down.

"I did have a friend from the Mages Guild recover their bodies and do an autopsy, he hasn't got back to me yet, I'm hoping for something—anything would be helpful." Drakin said then sipped on the tea.

"Swims-The-Seas told me you were involved with some necromancer issue on the same day, you think that could have had something to do with the attack?" Zendar asked.

"At this point all we can do is guess, but it wouldn't be unlikely," Drakin replied and then began to stare into nothingness. There was a moment of silence in the house except for the rain. The storm had calmed down and it was now raining gently, the sound of raindrops tapping against the windows filled the house with a relaxed atmosphere. The fireplace in the living room was crackling, warming up the room and adding coziness to the air. Everyone seemed to zone out for a bit. Drakin brooded over the situation while he blew on his tea. The silence was finally broken by Erina.

"Marlon, won't you fetch us some cookies from the kitchen, it'd be nice with the tea."

"Okay ma," It had taken Marlon around a month to become comfortable with calling Zendar pa and Erina ma but he did it naturally now. He got up and walked into the kitchen.

"But even if those assassins were connected with the necromancers, why would necromancers hire assassins? It makes no sense, if necromancers wanted you dead, they'd do it themselves," Erina said, making a good point.

"That's true," Drakin said. "There's also a good chance this might just be an attack on the Fighters Guild."

"If that's the case, then whoever hired the assassins must have known that you went on a mission and where and when you were traveling," Zendar made a good point as well.

"Well that leaves few options, almost none I believe, not even the other Guild Members since we went to Chorrol unexpectedly," Drakin was flustered. He sighed.

"What if they weren't assassins? Just bandits who didn't want to have their identities revealed?" Erina proposed.

"I can't see why bandits don't want to have their identities revealed, they're bandits after all, living outside the law out of their own will," Zendar said.

"Taking into consideration everything we know, it's still a possibility," Erina said. Once again everyone was silent as they contemplated the situation.

A few minutes passed, the adults seemingly deep in thought. Zenny was hoping to hear some of Drakin's stories but it made sense that they would only talk about the recent tragedy. The silence continued and Zenny started getting antsy. Just before he wanted to get up and find his brother Drakin spoke.

"You know, now that I think about it, something has been bothering me recently. Since we were in Chorrol," Drakin stopped and looked distracted suddenly.

"What's the matter?" Zendar asked.

"Where's Marlon?" Drakin said. Suddenly everyone realized he had been gone for much too long. He couldn't leave the kitchen without them seeing him. Erina quickly got up and went to the kitchen.

"What's he doing in the kitchen for so long?" Zendar asked. Erina entered the kitchen and her heart skipped a beat.

"Marlon!?" She screamed. Everyone rushed out of their seats and ran into the kitchen. No one could believe their eyes. He had vanished.

3E 352, 25th of Frostfall

Chorrol was cold on the morning of the 25th of Frostfall, the sky was overcast and there was a slight breeze in the air. Today marked the day that Odar would be released from the Chapel. It had taken nearly six months for him to recover physically but he was far from whole mentally.

Drakin had told the priests at the chapel that Odar should report everything he went through to the Mages Guild.

A healer carrying a plate of food knocked on Odar's door then opened it.

"Good morning Odar, how are you feeling today? I have some breakfast for you," The healer said optimistically and placed the plate on his small bedside table. Odar was seated at the side of his bed, facing away from the door in a simple tunic and trousers. His arms, which had become muscular once again, rested on his legs as he stared into the wall. He slowly turned to the healer and looked at her. His face had regained its former fullness but his eyes were empty. It was as if he looked straight through the healer. She grinned awkwardly then said:

"I hope you're doing okay Odar, you are free to leave today, do you have somewhere you can go?"

"I can go?" Said Odar in a monotonous voice.

"Yes, if you have somewhere to go that is," The healer replied.

"I can go," Odar said in the same dull voice.

"Where will you go Odar?"

"To Falkreath."

"Do you have family there?"

"Yes. Family," Odar said then looked back at the wall.

"Alright, you can go whenever you're ready, we will pay for your transport to Falkreath," Odar didn't reply but kept staring at the wall.

The healer left and went to speak to the head priest. She found him in the main hall of the Chapel.

"He's not going to be able to tell the Mages Guild anything in his condition," The healer told the head priest.

"Yes, I was afraid this would happen, we saw it coming but we have no control over this, we have brought him to full physical health, but as for his mental state, we can do little but pray," The head priest said.

"I suppose so, I just hope this doesn't cause any problems," the healer brooded.

"Let us entrust these problems greater than ourselves to the gods my child," The head priest said then gave the healer a comforting grip on the shoulder before moving on to pray at the altars.

" _Unto hearts of men death shall come,_

 _Like a shadow reaping old and young,_

' _Tis the final sickness with no cure,_

 _The void for eternity they shall endure."_

"It's a wonderful poem isn't it?" Mannimarco said as he slowly strolled back and forth in front of someone hidden in shadows. "It was written by a long lost Dwemer. They knew many things those Dwemer. But they did not understand death. How they would shudder at my presence if they knew I pull the strings of fate myself, that I have ascended to command death itself. How long they toiled in defiance of the gods, seeking to somehow match their divinity only to destroy themselves in their lust for power. Their methods were flawed, I won't make the same mistakes, I've come so far and now I have the final piece of the puzzle." He paused. "In all my power, something still seemed to elude me, a force far greater than anything we understand, something that has continued to escape me for thousands of years, something above even the gods," Mannimarco stopped walking and came up close to the figure in the shadows. A slight smile formed on his lips. "Being born a mortal is a blessing!" he said. "For the gods born of Anu and Padomay, they cannot know… they cannot understand what it means to break one's chains - to transcend into an alternate form of existence… no, us mortals are the true rulers of the Aurbis. All we have to do is take it." Mannimarco paused again. He then continued to speak as he he walked back. "I have seen the Tower! I have seen it… but my Psijic Endeavour is only just beginning. We have so much to prepare for." He turned around and pointed at the figure. " _You_ and I. For thousands of years I have searched, I have listened through the Serpent to the whispers of Lorkhan, and he pointed to _you_. You and I will break this barrier once and for all my child, and together we will ascend not only the chains or mortality, but the gods as well and rule all that ever was, is and shall be!" His villainous laugh echoed through the cave.

Mannimarco then began to gesture at someone else to approach him at the end of his laughter. It was Faenyl, the High Elf who, according to Mannimarco, was chosen by Lorkhan to track down the boy, the key to his ascendance.

"Come, Faenyl! You see this boy? He truly was the one Lorkhan had prophesied of. You were successful!" An uncharacteristically happy and smiling Mannimarco said to Faenyl who began to smile in the wake of his pleased Master. Faenyl was overjoyed on the inside. He had never seen Mannimarco so happy, his dreams of climbing the ranks of the Cult were coming true. He would become more respected now since Mannimarco's greatest ambitions will be realised because of him.

Suddenly, he stopped feeling so good. Mannimarco's hand gripped around his throat. Faenyl's jubilation had turned into horror and his eyes became wide with terror. Mannimarco was still smiling. Mannimarco lifted him off of the ground and Faenyl's energy began to flow out of his body and into Mannimarco. Faenyl began screaming in agony as his skin became wrinkled and slowly sunk into his skull. Soon the wails from his suffering ended. Mannimarco dropped the withered corpse to the ground. His smile was gone now.

"You are no longer needed," Mannimarco said quietly. The small figure sniffled as he proceeded further into the shadows.


	7. Chapter 6

**PART 2**

Chapter 6

5th of First Seed, 3E 362

Zenny flew across the Gold Road on his horse, racing forward with intensity, his black cloak fluttering wildly in the wind. Behind him, the sun was just about to peak out from behind the distant wooded hills. A streak of pink clouds were scattered in the sky, rising up from behind the hills. The air was chilly in the early morning and the road was empty. Zenny saw the city gates appear from behind the hill he was ascending, he was almost in Skingrad. As he approached the walls, he shouted at the guards to open the gate quickly. They recognized him and started to open the gate which consisted of two massive wooden doors, the two guards positioned themselves on a door each and began to push, the gate creaked open slowly as Zenny was getting dangerously close yet refusing to halt his horse. The guards were still pushing when the black horse narrowly brushed between them. Zenny shouted his thanks as he rode off into the city.

The city streets were not as barren as the Gold Road. Luckily, they were empty enough this early in the morning for him to stay on his horse. The beast trotted onward following the precise controls of his master. Every time a small opening came up in the street, Zenny urged his beast into a gallop before halting into a trot when it began to crowd up again.

It was the first time in months he had been in Skingrad but he had no time to be sentimental. His eyes fell on the iconic red flags outside the Fighter's Guild, he urged his horse on, below the flags his eyes found a very familiar man and his heart skipped a beat. It was his father. He was not expecting his father to be here. He arrived outside of the Fighter's Guild. He got off his horse and fastened it before walking up the stairs to his father who was standing right outside the door.

"Father, what are you doing here?" Zenny asked.

"You think I was going to miss this?" Zendar said. Zenny took the final step up and stood at eye level with his father, they both had intense, dark eyes. As they stood there, it was like the younger and older version of the same person was mirrored. Zendar had aged well. He still had the same build as his twenty-one-year-old son, lean and broad-shouldered. While their faces had the same, solid and masculine bone structure, Zendar had a few wrinkles around his eyes and stronger lines on his forehead. A few streaks of grey hairs around his temple and his more leathery skin also indicated the age difference. Zenny's hair was as dark as his father's but cut short, it was naturally wild and messy while his father's hair was long, parted in the middle and remained a bit less messy than his son's. Zenny's strong jaw was kept clean shaven while his father had a short, neatly-trimmed beard. The two Zendars embraced.

"Come. You're late," Zendar said and the two went into the building. Zenny saw his mother and she looked relieved. She too had aged well. She was small but lean, her face was still fair, round and pretty; only two faint lines from her neat nose to the outer part of her mouth indicated she had aged. Her light brown hair was tied up behind her head with two braided rows on either side of her head. Zenny gave his mother a kiss and a hug, she then stood back while holding her son's arms and looked at him. He was a good foot taller than her. Her pale blue eyes were full of pride when she looked at her son, but she quickly suppressed the feeling and ushered him on quickly.

Zenny walked on and took a deep breath. There were no members in the hall, they were all waiting for Zenny outside. Zenny approached the door that led to the outer quarters, he looked back at his mother who gave him an approving looking look, his father' face remained unchanged. Zenny took another deep breath then pushed open the doors and went outside.

Outside there was a table where Drakin was seated in the middle. Swims-The-Seas and a Khajiit that Zenny did not know were seated adjacent to Drakin. The table was pushed all the way to the rear wall allowing for a reasonably large space in the middle of the grounds. The rest of the guild members were sprawled around the extremities of the court. Zenny walked down the stairs, Erina and Zendar came out behind him and joined the small crowd. Zenny suddenly recognized a familiar face in the crowd. It was Vivienne. Her hair had darkened as she grew up, and was brown and just past shoulder length. Her now attractive face stood in contrast with the once easily upset, mucus oozing and toothless face of the past that Zenny remembered so well. She smiled at Zenny. Zenny sighed.

Vivienne and Zenny were in a relationship for about three years since Zenny turned fifteen. When Zenny turned eighteen however, he wanted to leave Skingrad and live by himself in the wilderness to test himself. His family, mainly Erina, disapproved and so did Vivienne. Vivienne grew up to be an essential asset to her father's winery, doing much of the book keeping, cleaning and working as the receptionist. Zenny knew she would not be able to come with him but he decided to go anyway. They got into a large argument before Zenny left. Over the next three years, they had grown apart, he had probably only seen her two or three times during this time. Now that he was going to join the Fighters Guild, he would be living in Skingrad again. His gut stirred at the thought of them reconciling and living together. He wondered if he still loved her. Zenny suddenly snapped himself out of this train of thought. He needed to be focussed today, he could not afford distractions.

Zenny looked at the three faces at the desk. First there was Swims-The-Seas, Zenny's second father. Since the time Zenny had known him as a boy his face hasn't changed at all, Argonians do not tend not suffer as much from aging related aesthetic problems until at least they become very aged. Swims-The-Seas' scales were still greenish-brown and may have only lost a slight amount of colour, his horns were adorned with a few rings. The one that had been chopped off during the encounter with the orc always jabbed at Zenny's heart. However, Swims-The-Seas has been proud of his battle scar, a chopped horn on a Argonian warrior does increase intimidation levels. Today, Swims-The-Seas' keen eyes were affixed on Zenny.

Next to Swims-The-Seas was Drakin, Zenny had also known him since he was a small boy. Drakin had dark-red eyes and high brows and cheekbones like all elves. Drakin's black hair was long and combed backwards similar to Zendar's hairstyle. Drakin had facial hair all around his mouth, the beard on his chin was braided into three portions, and tied at the ends with small golden rings. Drakin looked slightly impatient.

To the left of Drakin sat a Khajiit that Zenny had never seen before. He was dressed in orange robes, his fur was a dark shade of beige with some dark stripes around his head. He had three earrings in his left ear and had a scar over his snout. From his snout sprouted long whiskers that would slightly twitch every now and then. The Khajiit had one arm on the desk with his index finger's claw protruding which he was tapping gently on the desk. Zenny realized they must have been waiting for at least fifteen minutes.

Zenny walked up into the middle of the court and bowed.

"Please forgive my tardiness," He said humbly. The three on the desk were unmoved and did not respond until Drakin finally stood up and addressed the crowd.

"Ladies and gentlemen, today we have a possible new member in our midst. If he passes his trial, he will be awarded the rank of Recruit in the Fighters Guild," Drakin announced. "The trial will constitute of a match in single combat," Drakin continued. "This trial will be observed and examined by myself, Drakin, your Guildmaster, your Fighters Guild Champion, Swims-The-Seas, and finally, our guest, your Fighter's guild Champion of Leyawiin, Rajask." The members around the court started cheering and whistling. "If even one of us examiners deem that you have performed unsatisfactorily in this trial even after winning, or you are defeated, then you will fail and may only try again next year. Keep in mind the more times you fail, the lower your application will be considered for subsequent years," Zenny started to get a bit nervous, but he was still confident, just like his father his skills were unnaturally impressive, he just needed to stay calm. "I think we have all been waiting far too long, are you ready Zenny!?"

"I am," Zenny replied.

"Then the trial shall begin. The rules are simple, you must force your opponent to yield either by delivering a clear blow that would have ended the fight if you were fighting to the death, or by submission. No Destruction magic is allowed. Do you understand the rules?" No destruction magic was allowed since the nature of the damage inflicted on enemies would be too harmful for a sparring match, in addition to the safety of the crowd.  
"I understand." Zenny replied.

"Bring in the combatant!" Drakin ordered. Zenny was expecting a massive Orc covered from head to toe in steel or an intimidating Nord warrior. Instead he saw a rather plainly dressed Redguard emerge from behind the building. The combatants whom the Fighters Guild hire to fight against their prospective members were normally just mercenaries, usually hired from a local inn. Any mercenary would take the job, you won't die and the Fighters Guild pay well. However, the mercenary would typically be paid much less if they lost, so there was a much higher incentive to win.

This Redguard had a careless look to him as if he wasn't even about to be engaged in combat. Zenny didn't know if he was stupid or ridiculously overconfident. He was wearing a sleeveless tunic with ragged, baggy pants that were tied down to his legs just below the knees with cloth. He was carrying a sword Zenny had seen his father using once, if he wasn't mistaken that was an Akaviri blade with its distinct slight curve and thin blade. It was only sharpened on one end but it was incredibly sharp. The mercenaries knew the rules of the fight, no killing, no blade may harm your opponent. The Fighters Guild made sure the combatants they hired were skilled enough to do so. Zenny wondered how many times someone was actually seriously injured in one of these trials.

The Redguard stepped into the combat zone. His hair was dreadlocked but not too long, his naked arms showed bulging veins flowing over muscles. He was also barefoot and had a golden anklet on his right ankle. Zenny saw a rather large scar on the man's neck and wondered how he survived such a wound. He wasn't even looking back at Zenny, his expressionless face was wandering around, staring nonchalantly into the air. Zenny was ready to give this cocky man a huge surprise, Zenny had never lost a sparring match to anyone except his father since he turned sixteen.

"Are both combatants ready?!" Drakin shouted.

"Yes," Zenny said as he dropped his coat revealing two fine steel swords hanging at his hips. He was wearing light, training clothes. The Redguard gave a thumbs up.

"Begin!"

Zenny exploded from his position while drawing his blades, before most of the crowd could follow a loud clash of steel was heard. Zenny had lashed at his foe with his left sword but somehow the Redguard blocked it without staggering. In the next instant, Zenny kicked the Redguard's feet out from under him. He fell to the ground but extended his arm to break his fall and with the same motion he pressed off from the ground and flipped through the air to land several feet away from his foe.

Zenny was absolutely flabbergasted. Where did the Fighters Guild find a mercenary with such talent? The Redguard still did not look as if he cared. Zenny lashed out with his swords, drawing out the Redguard's defence. The Redguard parried each one of Zenny's blows with amazing precision, Zenny could hardly believe what was happening. It had been a long time since he fought anyone who could keep up with his blades, let alone block them. The Redguard snuck an attack in between Zenny's strikes but Zenny stopped the attack by dropping one of his swords and grabbing the attacking arm with his free hand. This left the Redguard open to attack from Zenny's open arm. The blade came at the Redguard but he started running up Zenny's body using the pull on his arm to not fall backwards; the sweeping blade passed under the Redguard at which point he kicked away from Zenny sending him staggering backwards and the Redguard landing on his feet some distance away. Zenny's sword finally hit the ground.

The crowd was completely silent, entranced by the display. No one there had seen a battle of this scale before. The three examiners looked on, Rajask and Swims-The-Seas looked slightly taken aback but Drakin's expression was not shaken. Erina stood holding Zendar's arm. She could barely watch. Vivienne looked nervous.

Zenny and the Redguard were at a standoff. The Redguard's expression had changed slightly and he was now focussed on Zenny. The Redguard changed his grip on his sword holding it with the blade-end pointed backwards. Zenny picked up his sword while eyeing his opponent. Zenny had never seen such a style before and readied his defense. Suddenly the Redguard exploded forward, almost at the same speed Zenny did. The curved blade swept up from behind but got caught in between Zenny's swords held in an X formation. A flurry of attacks came from the Redguard, Zenny responded with defensive parries but he was being pushed back. Their steel was moving so fast it was only visible as blurs in the air. The Redguard realized he wasn't going to break Zenny's defense so he jumped up and flipped over Zenny, Zenny swiped at him in the air but the Redguard managed to block, when he landed Zenny was in the process of turning and was open to attack. The Redguard lunged forward with the final blow. Of course he would stop an inch or so from inflicting the damage as he had been instructed by the Fighters Guild, if it was clear that the blow would have ended the fight, a winner would be declared. However, the blade didn't stop. It went on and cut into Zenny's abdomen, gasps as well as a bloodcurdling cry came from the crowd. It was Erina, she burst away from Zendar and began summoning an immense electrical storm around her, Zendar reached out and pulled her back, mollifying the magic as well.

"Look," he said, gesturing at the scene with his eyes. Erina looked closer, the blade had definitely made contact with Zenny's abdomen but it was far too shallow to cause any real damage.

"He used an alteration spell right before the blade struck him to harden his flesh," Zendar said.

"He should be eliminated from the fight! Drakin!? Are you blind!?" Erina shouted. Drakin stood up, Swims-The-Seas and Rajask looked concerned and slightly surprised.

"Indeed making contact with the blade is illegal in this sparring match, but I wonder, did our guest combatant realize the spell had been cast?" Drakin looked at the Redguard.

"Yes," The Redguard said.

"So you realized Zenny had cast an alteration spell, meaning if you did stop your blade it would have appeared as if you had secured the victory, but instead you chose to strike and show that your blade would not have finished the battle. Is that correct?" Drakin inquired.

"Yes," The Redguard said again.

"He should still be eliminated from the fi-" Erina was hushed by Zendar. The look he gave her made her come to a sudden realization. She looked angry and plucked her arm from Zendar's hand.

"I will overrule the disqualification, however if anyone is injured by a blade again, even if a spell had been cast or anything else happened to mitigate the damage, the attacker will still be eliminated from the fight," Drakin announced.

Zenny was bleeding but the cut was not even half an inch deep, he had cast an expert level alteration spell, one that many experienced mages even struggle with. His flesh had hardened to a level even beyond steel; this would cause most blades to bounce off, but not this one.

Zenny jumped back, the blade leaving his abdomen made him grunt in pain. He held his side, then looked at his bloodstained palm, then up at his foe. The Redguard had changed his grip on his sword back to a normal one. Zenny had no idea a fighter like this existed, and the chances that he met with him during his initiation exam into the Fighters Guild was worst luck he thought. Zenny realized he must have been overconfident. His talents had made him conceited, he thought he would effortlessly defeat any mercenary they could throw at him. Zenny started to wonder if this man really was just a mercenary. If he was, he must've been extremely expensive to hire.

Suddenly the Redguard let out a shout accompanied by an aura of bright light shining from his body, his clothes fluttered like they were in the wind and his dreadlocks rose like cobras. The light dimmed down along with his hair and clothes but a faint shine remained around him. Zenny didn't know what kind of spell he just cast but it looked like some kind of fortification spell from the Restoration school. Zenny cast a quick healing spell to stop his bleeding and before he knew it the Redguard was next to him, it was clear now that he cast a speed fortification spell on himself which would make all his movements lightning fast. Zenny knew the same spell but he didn't have time to cast it, he was going to have to fight at a disadvantage like this.

The Redguard feinted an attack to the left to draw out Zenny's guard to his right then instantly followed with a blindingly fast kick to Zenny's left side, the impact cracked his bottom two ribs. Surprisingly, Zenny didn't flinch but used to opportunity to strike back. Zenny had released his sword in his left hand as he saw the kick coming and managed to grab onto the Redguard's ankle before he could retract his leg. The Redguard swiped his sword at Zenny's right side, but it was blocked by Zenny's other sword, which kept both their swords locked. The Redguard was off balance with his right leg in Zenny's grip. There wasn't much attacking options for Zenny in this position so he pulled on the leg as hard as possible to get him in close for a headbutt as their swords were locked in struggle against each other to the side. The Redguard hopped towards Zenny, off balance. Zenny went in for the headbutt but the Redguard quickly jumped into the air and kicked into Zenny's chest sending Zenny staggering backwards, breaking his grip on the leg and left the Redguard landing several feet from Zenny once again.

Zenny was getting annoyed, he hadn't landed a single damaging blow on the Redguard and he seemed to have an answer to every situation he was forced into. The longer the fight went on, the more Zenny fell into disbelief regarding his opponent's skills. He did notice the Redguard panting slightly while he did not feel as drained himself. Perhaps, his incredible fighting potential could not be kept up for very long. Zenny was still at a much greater disadvantage however, with a wound to the abdomen and two broken ribs, he was going to be much slower and his movements were going to be affected.

The two combatants stood facing one another for a while, each waiting for the other to make a move. A drop of sweat rolled down the Redguard's forehead. Zenny now only had one sword, he held it with both hands in front of himself while steadily creeping forward. The Redguard did not move, he kept his sword at his side in one hand. His speed fortification spell had worn off, he could probably cast it again but it would drain his stamina and magicka too much, he seemed to realize what a stubborn opponent he was facing, even with his enhanced speed, while causing certain damage to his opponent, did not end the fight. He was aware that he could do the same again but it would most likely not end the fight again given Zenny's skill, and while he would inflict damage, would it be worth the cost to his magicka and stamina?

By now Zenny was almost within striking range. One step closer and they both would definitely react. For a moment Zenny hesitated and in that instant the Redguard lunged forward with a jab. Zenny was startled, he didn't think he would be in range to be attacked and as a result his reaction to block was delayed. The blade came within a few inches of his chest and the Redguard was about to stop the blade when instead the blade was bashed away with great force. Zenny had managed to parry the attack in the nick of time. Both of their swords were out of the fight for the next fraction of a second, but because of the level of the fighters, much could be done within that time to still inflict damage on the opponent. Zenny's left fist, which was open, came flying down through the air, the Redguard saw it coming but he suddenly realized he was knocked off balance from his sword being swept away and could do nothing but take the hit.

Zenny's fist connected with the Redguard's right cheek and instantly fractured the cheekbone. Zenny's fist hurt but it didn't take the same amount of damage. The momentum from his fist transferred into the Redguard's head blasting it towards the ground. Zenny thought for sure he would be thrown into the ground leaving him wide open for the final blow.

The Redguard's head flew towards the ground followed by his body. The following scene however, shocked Zenny. By some miracle of strength, the Redguard's legs were still planted, he had taken one step back to maintain his balance. His head was inches away from the ground and his abdomen bent downwards to his left side and stretched awkwardly back to his legs which were bent at the knees. His arms were extended to help keep his balance.

Zenny's mind was once again blown. The Redguard saw a chance to strike and lashed out with his sword, Zenny narrowly dodged back but his stupefaction remained. How could he not have crashed into the ground? What kind of abdominal strength does it take to resist that force and keep standing? Pound-for-pound this must be the strongest man in Tamriel Zenny thought. He was of average height and not very imposing, but his body was like a spring wound up to the highest level of tension, ready to explode with power or resist any force.

"Strong punch," The Redguard said, rubbing his right cheek with his hand. That surprised Zenny as well, he actually spoke.

"I'm surprised you didn't hit the ground," Zenny said, entertaining the idea of speaking to his opponent.

"I could see it coming and readied myself for it," The Redguard replied. Zenny grunted in amusement. "I think it's time to end this fight," The Redguard said readying his sword, holding it with the blade facing backwards once again. His nonchalant ways were now completely gone, he seemed completely focussed and determined. Zenny realized this fight was going to come down to this final attack.

The two jumped backwards, each standing at the edge of the fighting ring. The Redguard shouted out and cast several fortification spells, Zenny did the same. The crowd was amazed, they had to cover their faces from the wind and light coming from the ring. Once the spells had been cast, it seemed like two gods were at a standoff, each one glowing with the intensity of their incantations. They stood for a while, each preparing their final attacks. The three examiners looked on intently, as if not to miss anything, Zendar was so invested in watching the fight he could hardly blink. Erina looked on in nervousness and the entire crowd was silent, no one wanted to miss anything.

Suddenly, both fighters disappeared, faster than the eye could see. A large gust of wind and dust was knocked up from the immense speed forcing the crowd to shield their faces. When the wind past, they could see two figures in the middle of the ring. Each stretched in the final position of an attacking motion, Zendar saw one of the figure's swords had been chopped in half and the other had their sword at the neck of his opponent. It was a thin, curved blade that was held to Zenny's neck. Zenny's sword had been cut in half, for a moment Zenny did not understand what happened. His mind was blank until he finally processed his situation. Did I lose? His face was one of absolute shock and disbelief. The Redguard's face was expressionless. They remained in that position, the other half of Zenny's blade fell from the sky and pierced into the ground. Drakin stood up from his seat.

"As a result of being defeated in this combat test, Zenny has failed his trial," Drakin announced. Erina ran to Zenny. He had not moved, his face still stricken with astonishment and disbelief. The Redguard had sheathed his sword and walked away steadily with short paces, he was at the brink of exhaustion. He left into the building, Zendar and Drakin followed him. Some members of the crowd including Vivienne came to help Zenny up.

"We have to get him to the Chapel," Erina said desperately. Zenny was supported between two guild members and they slowly made their way to the Chapel. As they passed through the guild hall on their way to the Chapel, Zenny caught a glance of the Redguard who was seated with his father and Drakin standing next to him and talking with him.

A few hours later Zenny was resting in a recovery room in the Chapel. His wounds were not very serious, he was allowed to leave the Chapel in four days and, depending on his body's response to the restoration magic used, could be back to full capacity within that time as well. Erina was seated next to him, asleep. Vivienne had come in a while back to leave a get well note while Zenny was asleep. Zendar came in to see his son for the first time since his defeat. Zenny opened his eyes as his father came in. Erina woke as well and looked displeased when she saw her husband. Zendar placed his hand on Zenny's forehead, then stroked his hair.

"You did well son," Zendar said sincerely.

"Why were you talking to him?" Zenny asked weakly. There was a pause as Zendar didn't answer immediately. "What is your business with him?" Zendar removed his hand and turned away to look through the window.

"That man is called Shinji Kouros. He is a colleague of mine and he is the most powerful fighter I've ever met," Zenny's eyes looked shocked, confused and angry. "I spoke with Drakin a few weeks ago and asked him if Shinji could be your opponent for the trial. I know you may hate me for this but it was for your own good. You needed to face a fighter that would make you gain humility and dampen your overconfidence," Zendar said then turned around to look at his son. Zenny's eyes were now only angry.

"How could you do this to him Zendar?" Erina said, understanding Zenny's anger.

"You know it's for the best, Erina, he needs to understand what it is to lose," Zendar replied.

"You know he's been waiting his whole life for this and now you ruined it for him," Erina was almost as angry as Zenny.

"He'll have a year to realize that I did the right thing for him, besides, you know they are going to have him accepted almost instantly next year," Zendar looked at his son and stared into furious bloodshot eyes. Zenny was almost crying out of frustration and anger at his father. Zendar was hurt, he loved his son very much and to see him show such anger towards himself jabbed at Zendar's heart. He knew his son would come to understand this decision eventually but for now he thought it was best if he just let him be.

"I love you, my son," Zendar left the room.


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

1st of First Seed, 3E 362

The Chapel in Chorrol was empty. It was dusk and the final rays of light for the day shone almost horizontally through the stained windows, illuminating tiny particles of dust flowing across them. An old monk came up the stairs from the Chapel hall. He wore humble robes and carried a feather duster. He began systematically dusting off each of the nine altars in the temple. He reached the fourth altar, the altar of Arkay, when the silent Chapel erupted in noise, the front doors had blasted open causing the monk to jump in a fright and quickly assess the cause of his scare. A large man stumbled in. It was Odar Bear-Killer. The monk was frozen for a moment, he did not know how to react.

"I must speak with the head Priest," Odar said. He looked absolutely exhausted. He was wearing full nordic carved armour, dried mud was stuck all over his boots.

The monk hurried over and grabbed Odar's large body with his arm and allowed one of Odar's heavy arms around his shoulders. He guided Odar to one of the pews and got him to sit down.

"I'll call the head priest," the monk said. Odar rested his head and arms on the pew in front of him. He heard a conversation downstairs, there was a surprised tone asking questions. The voices became clearer as they came up the stairs. The head priest saw Odar and gasped. The head priest was now a very old man, but his body was still in good shape. He walked over to Odar.

"Is that you Odar? Are you hurt again?" the head priest asked but was almost cut off by Odar.

"Where are the men who brought me here?"

"What?"

"The men. They brought me here all those years ago," Odar spoke impatiently and out of breath. One of the healers came up the stairs as well, it was the same healer that had nursed Odar back to health over the six months he spent here.

"Odar!?" the healer exclaimed.

"He wants to know where the men who brought him here ten years ago are," the head priest told the healer.

"By the nine, it's really you Odar," the healer said kneeling next to Odar's seat and examining his face, holding it in one hand. His face was large, he had small blue eyes and a long, braided beard. His face was covered in dirt. Looking back at the healer, his face showed desperation but more so it showed hurt.

"Those men were of the Fighters Guild if I'm not mistaken," the head priest said.

"Yes," the healer added, "They were from the Fighters Guild in Skingrad."

Odar stood up immediately but wobbled once he got on his feet.

"Don't tell me you plan to head there now!?" the healer said.

"I must," Odar said, he pushed the healer out of his way, she gave way surprisingly easily and fell to the ground. The old monk rushed to help her up and the head priest grabbed Odar's arm.

"You are in no shape to go now, you'll be dead before you even reach halfwa-" Odar collapsed. He tried to keep crawling but his body wouldn't move. He buried his head into the floor and sobbed.

They managed to get him downstairs and into a bed after removing his heavy armour. The healer found that he had no bodily injuries, his body was just completely exhausted.

There was a loaf of bread and some meat left over in the chapel hall. The healer brought it to Odar along with some ale. Despite Odar's body's condition, he managed to make quick work of the food, he even demanded they bring him vegetables.

After eating an entire head of broccoli, Odar fell asleep. The healer, monk and head priest all felt relieved when Odar was asleep and well. They left him in his room.

"He'll be fine in the morning, he just needed some food and rest," the healer said.

"What in the world could have motivated him to do what he's doing?" the head priest asked.

"I don't know if we'll ever find out… As long as he is healthy though, our job is done," the healer said.

"You've done good work today, take some time to rest before tomorrow," the head priest said, smiling.

"Of course," the healer said, before the head priest left to the living quarters of the chapel.

The healer looked back at the room Odar was in, she walked up to it, hesitated, then slowly opened the door. She looked at Odar, his large body made the bed look small, his feet stuck out from the end of the blanket and extended beyond the bed. He was resting peacefully with a light snore as he breathed in. She quietly entered the room then sat in the chair next to the bed and kept watch over Odar for a good while.

When morning came, the healer was asleep, slouched back in the wooden chair. Suddenly, Odar jolted awake and sat up straight, scaring the healer and waking her as well. They both were becoming aware of their surroundings after their deep slumbers. Odar got out of bed and the healer hesitantly stood up as well, straightening her dress.

"H-how are you feeling this morning Odar?" the healer said, flustered.

"Strong," Odar said as he picked up is armour and began putting it on.

"Are you going t-"

"Help me put this on, woman," Odar said as he struggled putting on the breastplate by himself. The healer quickly started helping him tie the straps.

"Are you hungry? I can get you something to eat before you leave," the healer said.

"Aye, need fuel for the road ahead," Odar replied. After getting the armour on, the healer left and came back with a wooden platter topped with bread, two fish, more broccoli and a cup of ale. She handed the plate to him and placed the ale on the table. He began tearing into the food. She stood at the door, watching him nervously. Odar noticed the gaze, then noticed the woman. She was an Imperial, not the prettiest woman, but she had a face of someone who cared. She had calloused hands and she was wearing a simple dress with a few patches on it. Her body was lean and she was tall. After being at the receiving end of Odar's gaze for a few seconds she seemed to get nervous then said:

"Is the food alright?"

"Aye, it's good, woman," Odar kept eating. There was a pause. The healer looked at Odar's muddy boots.

"How far did you travel yesterday? Don't you have a horse?" The healer asked.

"It was stolen from me just after I crossed the border into Cyrodiil. Managed to kill one of the milk drinkers but there were three. The sly bastards spun a fishing line across the road, it knocked me off, the three of them charged me, I got up and pulled out my axe. They stopped in their tracks and went for the horse, I ran after them, stabbing the one in the back but the other two got on the horse and disappeared into the woods."

"You walked all the way from Skyrim!?" the healer exclaimed, surprised. Odar just grunted. The healer couldn't believe it.

When he finished, he put the plate on the table, took the ale and drank it all in a few sloppy gulps, then got up, tied his battleaxe to his back and walked to the door. The healer was snapped out of her stupefy and followed behind Odar.

"Are you going to Skingrad now? Listen, you should take this money," the healer reached into her dress and produced a few septims as she followed Odar up to the main hall but was suddenly flustered when he stopped and turned face-to-face with her.

"What's your name woman?"

"Huh? Oh. It's uh Ganna. Ganna Wavrick," Odar grabbed her by her shoulders making her shriek. He stared directly into her eyes. Her face flushed red. Odar seemed as though he was about to say something, his mouth trembled then his eyes teared up and he could not speak. He composed himself, let her go then continued to walk forward. She grabbed his shoulder then placed the money in his hand.

"Hire a coach," Ganna said. Odar looked back at her, with his teary eyes then said:  
"You're a good woman, Ganna Wavrick, I'll drink to you in Sovngarde," Odar took the money and walked out of the Chapel. Ganna wanted to ask many more questions, she was teary-eyed and confused and she wondered if she would ever see him again. The head priest came up into the main hall and saw Ganna.

"Did Odar just leave?" the head priest asked.

"Yes…"

When Odar arrived in Skingrad, he was in better condition than what he was when he arrived in Chorrol four days earlier since he had traveled by coach and took the most direct route possible. He arrived in the early evening, and despite a long and tiring journey, he walked straight towards the Fighters Guild after getting off the coach. He only had the armour on his body, his axe and a small bag with him. He saw the signature red flags outside the Fighters Guild building, he walked up the outer stairs, then went inside.

The first person he saw was an Imperial wearing iron armour.

"Where is the Dark Elf?" Odar asked.

"Who are you?" The Imperial replied.

"The Dark Elf, Argonian, or Wood Elf. Where are they?" Odar said, this time slower to make himself clear.

"You wish to speak with-" the Imperial was cut off.

"Are you asking for me?" Swims-The-Seas said, coming from a nearby room.

"By the gods, you are still here," Odar said, surprisingly relieved. The Imperial looked confused.

"Who are you and what do you want with us?" Swims-The-Seas said.

"My name is Odar, it was ten years ago that you saved me from the necromancers," Swims-The-Seas' eyes lit up.

"You survived!"

"Yes, but I'm not here to talk to you about that, I have important things to tell you," Odar said, his demeanor changed to a very serious one.

"Come, I will find Drakin, the Dunmer you also wanted to see, and we can listen to what you have to say," Swims-The-Seas said.

When Drakin saw Odar he did not recognize him, it was only after Swims-The-Seas told him who he was that his surprise manifested. The three of them went into a quiet conference room.

Odar was seated at the table with Drakin seated opposite him. Swims-The-Seas stood by the wall, both were giving Odar their undivided attention.

"Ten years ago, I was doing a regular job. Guarding some goods when we were attacked by necromancer filth in the forest. They took us alive. I was experimented on for almost a month and during that time, I never ate and only drank the water that dripped from above. I knew I was about to die any day but that was when you arrived and saved me. You brought me to Chorrol where I recovered for six months," Odar paused. "You had told the healers that I should report everything I went through to the Mages Guild, but... I couldn't." Drakin's eyes squinted intently as he listened. "My body had recovered but my mind was still in pieces," Odar paused again. "I had only one place to go, and that was Falkreath." Odar became slightly emotional. Swims-The-Seas and Drakin were surprised, seeing such a man emotional was not something they would expect. "When I was a young lad, I had a sweetheart, her name was Jaema." Odar's eyes became teary and there was a slight tremble in his voice. "She moved to Falkreath and I promised one day I'll be there with her," Odar sniffed up his emotions then continued. "Years passed and life went on… I ended up coming to Cyrodiil because it was easiest to get a job protecting goods here," He paused, then said grimly: "You know what ended up happening," Odar's eyes stared blankly into space for a moment, Swims-The-Seas and Drakin's attention was unwavered. He snapped out of it and continued. "When I left Chorrol in my traumatized state, I ended up going back to Falkreath. And would you believe it, Jaema was still there, waiting," Odar's eyes became watery. "She took me in in my broken state and took care of me. She had gotten a small job as a courier and had a small house on the outskirts of the town. For two years that woman did everything for me, she bathed me, she fed me, she nursed my mind back to health. It had taken two years but I had recovered. I felt like a new man, refreshed and in love. I asked her to marry me and it happened," Odar wiped away a tear and sniffed. "I continued to work as a sellsword, doing jobs here and there, making decent coin and she kept her job as a courier. We weren't the richest people, but we had happiness, it was a perfect life for us," Odar paused once again. "It all changed," he said, he brought a clenched fist to his mouth and tightly shut his eyes. He was suppressing his emotions. He took a deep breath then continued. "A week ago from today I realized that she's not home on time, I wait for about an hour until I decide to go look for her, she was always on time since she knew how long her travels would take her as a courier. She told me her final stop would be at Riverwood before coming home. I walked the path she would have taken and came upon a satchel," Odar's voice broke at the end of his sentence. He paused, he pressed against his tightly shut eyes with his index finger and thumb. He wiped his eyes, then continued in his emotion filled voice. "It was her satchel, it was caught in a bush at the side of the road, so I went in that direction and came upon a cave. My heart was racing, and I charged in. The cave was full of disgusting necromancer filth. I couldn't savour cutting them down because I was too worried about my woman," Odar paused to compose himself. "I came upon a cage in the back of the cave," Odar paused again. "She was in there," Odar paused again, turning his face away. "She was still alive, but barely," An involuntary sound escaped Odar and he covered his face with both hands. Swims-The-Seas got up and sat next to him, one arm on his back.

"Don't push yourself," Swims-The-Seas said trying to comfort Odar. A sob came from Odar then he sniffed, composed himself and took a deep breath again.

"I ran to the cage but I couldn't find the key, I searched the filth I had cut down but I still couldn't find it, so I started bashing the cage with my axe. When it finally opened…" Odar held his breath "She was dead," He brought his hands to his face and a sob escaped him. He stayed like this for a while until he was ready to speak again. "Two weeks earlier she told me she was-" Odar's voice croaked and he sobbed loudly in his hands this time. "She was pregnant!" Odar cried out, in full anguish through his tears, broken. He was crying unrestrainedly now. Swims-The-Seas tried desperately to comfort him. Drakin's heart ached for this man, the suffering he has been through is something no man should ever experience.

Drakin and Swims-The-Seas waited a good while for Odar to cry out his despair. When he could finally compose himself, he continued.

"During my eight years of bliss, I prayed to Talos every day. He told me to come back here, to tell you what I knew, what happened in the cave, what I heard. But… I couldn't. I couldn't leave my wife, or my perfect life. I was too afraid to lose it and now look what has happened," Odar suppressed a sob. "So instead I wrote every detail I could remember in this journal," He produced a journal from the inside of his chestpiece. I was thinking about sending it by courier, I never thought it would be that important, but now that those damned necromancers... those cowardly pieces of skeever shit took everything away from me," Odar paused, relaxed and took a deep breath to ease his rage. "I'm here to give you anything I can to make them pay. And if you ever go out there to fight them, by Ysgramor and the nine divines I will go with you."

"Of course, you have every right to come with us," Drakin said. "Although the necromancer activity in Cyrodiil has declined greatly during the last ten years, I can't help but feel that may not be as good a thing as it seems,"

"Indeed, they didn't just disappear, they must be up to something," Swims-The-Seas added.

"We will require the cooperation of the Mages Guild, they are the experts when dealing with necromancy. We'll go over the contents of the journal with the Mages Guild to find out whatever those necromancers were up to, then come up with a plan,"

"Very well," Odar replied.

The following morning Erina entered the Mages Guild. She was requested to attend the meeting between the Mages Guild and Fighters Guild. Although she was a member of the Mages Guild, she always prefered to work at home. She would only seldom go to the Mages Guild building for additional research, nevertheless she was a highly respected member given her recent promotion to Master-Wizard. She answered only to the Arch-Mage, Zendar believed Erina was capable of becoming Arch-Mage but Erina did not like the idea of all the responsibility that came with the title. As a Master-Wizard, she could conduct her own research at her own discretion and with a fraction of the responsibility of the Arch-Mage.

The head of the Mages Guild in Skingrad was Gerard Jondrelle. He came to meet Erina. He was a Breton with long blonde hair, tied up in a ponytail and with a very plain face. He wore blue robes adorned with golden patterns.

"Good to see you, Erina. I'm glad you could make it."

"Indeed, such a collusion between Fighters and Mages guild does not happen too often," Erina said.

"Indeed it does not, shall we?" Gerard gestured Erina onwards. They came to the meeting hall, it seemed everyone was already assembled. Seated at the head of the table was Drakin, he looked almost ill, his face was pale and he seemed fidgety. This was very odd behaviour for Drakin, when he saw Erina, his face seemed to become even more pale. Next to him was Swims-The-Seas and two other Fighters Guild members in addition to Odar. Gerard took his seat at the other end of the table, Erina sat next to him along with a handful of other Mages Guild members.

"Now then, it seems we are ready to begin this meeting," Gerard opened. "This meeting between the Fighters Guild and Mages Guild was requested by Drakin, the Master of the Fighters Guild. Drakin, if you will," Gerard gestured to Drakin. Drakin's pale face had a drop of sweat rolling down it. He wiped it away then began in a weak voice.

"Good morning everyone, thank you for coming to the meeting," Drakin gulped. "We have made some very, very disturbing discoveries with regards to the Necromancer threat."

"The necromancer threat?" Said a member of the Mages Guild. "We have barely had any problems with them in several years."

"That is because they are plotting something malicious," Drakin seemed almost nauseous when he looked up at Erina. "We found a connection between them and Marlon," Drakin managed to say. Erina's eyes lit up and she stood up from the table.

"What!?" An aura of raging magicka flowed from her presence, everyone in the room was either in awe or struck with fear. Drakin had never felt such raw, rageful magicka. The entire room was shaking, suddenly it stopped.

"Tell me everything," Erina said, she managed to calm herself down. Drakin adjusted his tunic. He then pointed at Odar.

"This man was captured by necromancers ten years ago. He spent nearly a month in captivity with them. He overheard their plans, everything. Everything he knows he wrote down in this journal. I read it all last night along with the other Fighters Guild members."

"Why didn't he give us this information ten years ago?" A member of the Mages Guild said.

"There were several complications given his health afterwards, he could not manage,"

"It took him ten years to recover!?" Another member of the Mages Guild questioned.

"Enough!" Erina beamed. "Let him continue, we have the information now, let us hear it."

"There are two pieces of information that are of use to us," Drakin said. "The first is that, however unbelievable, the leader of the necromancers is Mannimarco. The King of Worms," Objections and conversations exploded around the table.

"That's impossible!" Gerard shouted. "How can this be!?" Gerard couldn't believe it. Erina's eyes were wide open but blank, her face was otherwise expressionless. She could not believe it, this fact changed everything. No one would believe this.

"Can we really trust a man who was at the brink of death? He must have been hearing things!" a Mages Guild member shouted. Odar stood up and walked to the Guild Member, he grabbed him by his robes which caused others around to stand up and try to get in between them. Odar was too strong to be wavered. It was absolute chaos. He lifted the member until he was eye level with him.

"You think I'm making this up!?" Odar shouted. He threw the man to the ground, he crawled back in fear. Odar looked at everyone in the room, his presence was overwhelming. "Believe me or not, it's what I heard. You can all choose to think I'm crazy but it will come back to haunt you all someday. If we allow this monster to do what he wants, we will all suffer for it. You all can stay here in your fancy Guild with your fancy robes and twiddle your thumbs but I'm gonna go out and DO something!" The room was silenced. Odar walked back and took his seat.

"We must inform the Arch-Mage at once!" Gerard said with murmurs of consent following.

"No." Erina said.

"What?!" Gerard retorted, the rest of the room seemed surprised as well.

"We are not going to inform the Arch-Mage." Erina said. Gerard was the Guild leader but Erina still outranked him.

"Well why in Oblivion not!? This is the most important piece of information we have received in my entire time at the Mages Guild, what we learned here today may shift the course of history itself!"

"That's why we're not going to tell the Arch-Mage," Erina said. "If we do, can you imagine the chaos that will ensue? Instead we need a small, highly efficient, highly capable infiltration team to find and eliminate him,"

"That's preposterous, no one group could end him, we need all the help we can get," Gerard said.

"Listen to me. The more people we involve with this, the more are going to die. We are going to need the most skilled of the skilled to carry out this task. I'm going to get Zendar to help us," When Erina mentioned Zendar the objecting members seemed to be conflicted. "Think about it, even if this plan fails, we can tell the Arch-Mage and it'll be like we never kept it from him in the first place,"

"This is going to be on your head Erina," Gerard said.

"That's fine with me. Now, Drakin, what was the other piece of information? It must have to do with Marlon," Erina said impatiently. Drakin took a deep breath.

"Indeed it does," Drakin said. "While Odar was in chains... he heard necromancers speak of a man named Manuelle," Drakin said, with a half defeated tone of voice. This time Erina was not in a rage, with overflowing magicka, it was just plain expressionlessness.

"Did you hear me, Erina?" Drakin said. "Manuelle had ties with the necromancers!" Drakin shouted. "I should have known! I knew something was off about him. That night, do you remember that night I sparred with Zendar, the night Marlon disappeared? We were trying to figure out who attacked us, who killed Arngorn. I remember, just before Marlon disappeared, I was about to mention Manuelle. Now that I had a chance to think about it, it was him who sent attackers on us, he met with Swims-The-Seas and Arngorn in Chorrol, he was the only one who knew where we would be and when. But with the chaos of Marlon's disappearance and everything that happened afterwards, it was as if I never thought of Arngorn's killers again," Drakin put his elbows on the table and rested his head on his hands. The room went quiet.

"Is that all?" Erina said calmly. Drakin lifted his head and looked half surprised at Erina's sangfroid.

"Yes…" Drakin said.

"You, woman," Odar said looking at Erina. "Whatever happens, I'm going to be on that infiltration team."

"Very well," Erina replied. Her expression was bland. "Now, if that is all for today, I shall get back to you all about the infiltration team." Erina paused and gave a stern look around the table. "Everything we discussed today will remain a secret. _If_ , it happens that we fail to dispose of Mannimarco and his necromancer threat, only then will we raise the issue to the Arch-Mage."

"I believe this concludes our meeting," Drakin said.

Erina left the Mages Guild. There was a rage within her that she had never felt before. But she did her best to suppress it. Zendar was coming home tonight from a short visit to the Imperial City. She knew Zendar would inform the Blades of the necromancer threat but the Blades wouldn't attack the necromancers unless they threatened the security of the Emperor. However, there still a possibility of that happening given the extent of the actual threat Mannimarco presents. Nevertheless, Erina would have to inform Zendar, he was definitely one of the best people for the job, him, along with some of the other finest warriors in Tamriel, they would certainly succeed.

That night Zendar came home and Erina explained everything to him. He did not take the information easily. He could barely keep himself composed. Although dealing with the necromancer threat was not part of Zendar's job, it was a personal matter.

"Have you told Zenny?" Zendar asked.

"No, I want to wait for him to recover," Erina replied.

"Good," Zendar sat down and brooded. "Tomorrow we can begin to assemble the infiltration team. I have a few people in mind,"  
"I will let you attend to the necromancer issue, but I am going to deal with Manuelle. I am going to set out for High Rock tomorrow and I'm going to kill him."

"You have proof he is affiliated with the necromancers, it should be fine," Zendar said.

"You should go to the Fighters Guild tomorrow, the man who gave us this information wants to be on your infiltration team, he won't take no for an answer," Erina explained. Zendar rose an eyebrow.

"Interesting. Very well, I'll talk with him," Zendar said.

Later that evening, Erina was preparing to go to bed. Zendar had been acting sightly strange but she did not think much of it. With the sudden revelation of Manuelle's betrayal and his involvement with Marlon's disappearance he must have been shocked. He spent a long time sitting on a chair in the corner of their room, brooding. Erina came over to him.

"Come, Zendar, you should get some rest," She said. Zendar stood up and looked at Erina. "We have so much-"

Zendar kissed her. She was completely surprised, her eyes wide at first but then closed as she kissed him back. Their faces separated.

"What was that all about?" Erina said confused. Zendar didn't reply, he kissed her again and they fell on the bed and began to make love.

A passionate night left them both tired, Erina fell asleep in Zendar's arms.

In the middle of the night Zenny woke in his bed, half asleep still. He thought he saw his father standing at the door. He fell asleep again.

When Erina woke up, she was no longer in Zendar's arms. He was gone. He had left a note:

 _Dearest Erina,_

 _You must forgive me, but today I will take this job upon myself. I am the one responsible for Marlon and I will do what it takes to bring him back. I made a promise to him once, I intend to keep that promise at all costs. Also, the lives of those uninvolved need not be lost, you know as well as I that whoever goes with me, is almost certain not to come back. I have sent a raven to Shinji explaining everything, if I do not return in three days time, he will know what to do and he will continue where I failed. Regarding your business with Manuelle, he expects nothing, wait for me to return before you set out. I will see you soon with our lost son._

 _I hope you can forgive me,_

 _With all my love,_

 _Zendar_

Erina's tears dropped on the paper, smudging the ink. The tears were infused with anger and sadness.


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Zendar raced towards the last cave he heard about that harboured necromancers. It was very early in the morning and still dark save for the bright Masser and Secunda that lit up his path. The cave was not too far from Skingrad, an hour's ride.

Zendar arrived and rushed into the cave. As expected, he found numerous necromancers. He killed them all except one.

"Where is Mannimarco?" Zendar said, raising his sword to the necromancer's throat. The necromancer scurried backwards but hit a wall. He then laughed maniacally. Zendar stabbed his foot which turned the laughter into screams of agony. Zendar twisted the blade.

"Where is he you rotten filth!?"

"Y-you can torture me all you want, I won't tell you," The necromancer looked pleased with himself.

"I know you necromancers don't fear death, you believe your souls will go to whatever twisted realm Mannimarco created for you, am I right?" Zendar said. The necromancer just laughed. "You know what would happen if I trap your soul first before killing you? It would be mine forever and I'd use your petty soul to enchant my boots," The necromancer stopped laughing suddenly.

"No! Please don't!" He groveled on the ground.

"Then tell me where is Mannimarco," Zendar demanded. The necromancer seemed frustrated, he was conflicted. Suddenly he lashed out with a desperate thunderbolt spell. Zendar held out his hand and absorbed the energy. The necromancer was out of magicka and out of options. Zendar bent down and grabbed him by his neck. He forced him against the wall and, with the same hand gripping his neck, began to emit the energy of a soul trap spell.

"Ugh! He's in Morewack cave! I'll mark it on your map," Zendar let go and the necromancer fell to his knees, defeated.

Zendar took the necromancer and locked him in one of the cages used to keep prisoners.

"If I go there and find Mannimarco isn't there, I'll come back. You don't want me to come back."

After four hours of riding, Zendar arrived at Morewack cave. It was northwest of Kvatch, secluded among the hills. By this time the sun was rising, Zendar could sense malicious magicka in the air. He tied his horse to a tree and approached the cave. His chances of success would have increased if he brought someone like Shinji and a few other highly capable warriors with him. But Zendar did not want the responsibility of their lives on his hands, this was a personal matter for him. Besides there was the matter of his pride as well, and deep down he was thrilled by the challenge.

Zendar boldly entered the cave. The necromancers here would not be anything like the ones he killed in the previous caves, these necromancers were at the top of the food chain, the ones working with Mannimarco.

Zendar continued into the cave, it was light by torchlight. He was wearing medium armour under his black cloak. His one hand was free to use magic while the other was carrying the legendary Goldbrand sword. A sword Zendar had acquired from the Daedric Prince Boethiah himself after proving his strength to him. It was a thin blade, similar in shape to an Akaviri katana.

Suddenly a massive lighting strike came from behind Zendar. It was deflected by a magical barrier around Zendar causing it to strike the wall of the cave.

"Impressive," Not many know that incantation. The voice said. Zendar turned around and saw the figure. "You won't get far, I'm afraid. Now if you don't mind we could spare-" the figure erupted into an inferno while he was speaking. Zendar had little patience for trash talk. Ash fell to the ground where the figure was stood and Zendar continued onwards.

Zendar emerged in an opening in the cave. Two necromancers where busy preparing potions at an alchemy lab. They turned around and saw Zendar.

"Well, well, well. Are you lost friend?" The one figure said.

"Where is Mannimarco?" Zendar replied.

"You insolent fool, who do you think-" The figure was turned into ash by an enormous lightning bolt from Zendar's hand.

"What in oblivion!?" the other figure shouted, before he knew it Zendar was next to him and a sword through his gut.

"Where is Mannimarco?" Zendar said again.

"Damn… you…" the necromancer coughed blood. Zendar twisted the blade in his gut.

"Where is he!?" Zendar demanded. The necromancer coughed up more blood then spoke through his bloody mouth.

"Rot in Oblivion you-" Zendar sliced up cutting the torso in half. He then continued further into the cave. After walking for a while he came upon another opening. There was a corpse on a table which was being studied by an old man. He was not wearing the same black robes as the rest of the Necromancers.

"Greetings," the old man said without turning around. "You have come to slay Mannimarco, no?" Zendar was on guard. "I can sense your power, however I cannot allow you to go any further," The old man turned around exposing a hole in his chest, he had no heart. "Don't mind this, just a bit of an experiment," Suddenly the man let out a powerful lightning strike. Zendar pulled up a ward blocking the attack. The man continued with his attacks. Zendar could feel these lighting bolts had power behind them, this old man was a worthy adversary. Zendar's ward was depleting, he suddenly dropped the ward and lashed out with his own lighting strike. The electricity met in the air, sparks lit up the cave.

"Impressive!" the old man said. He then let out a cry and began levitating with an aura of light emitting from his body. Lighting began whipping out randomly from around his body. Zendar cast a lighting resistance spell and jumped into cover. Electrical whips were dancing all over the room, blasting and tearing through the rock. Zendar ran out from behind cover, dodging the lightning, he was nearly in range with his sword when he was struck, he fell to the ground and quickly rolled away from another strike. Zendar raised his magical barrier, he concentrated more and more magicka into it. Now the lighting hit the barrier but Zendar was safe. He approached the old man slowly. Suddenly the old man stopped the electrical onslaught and he fell back the to the ground. Zendar used this opportunity to instantly lash out at him but it was as if the man was a ghost. The blade went right through him. The old man laughed then the body disappeared. Suddenly he appeared right next to Zendar with a spectral dagger. It was jabbed at Zendar but Zendar grabbed the hand holding it with lighting speed. The dagger was mere inches from his chest. Suddenly the dagger disappeared from the old man's hand and instead a bolt of lightning shot from it. Zendar was blasted into the rocks behind him. The old man started laughing.

"It's been a while since I had this much fun!" He kept an eye on the ruble Zendar was sent into. He waited and waited but nothing happened.

"You can't be dead from that!" After saying that, the old man considered the possibility that his adversary was actually dead and began walking to investigate. As soon as he did, the rocks began vibrating then they rose from the ground and floated in the air. Zendar emerged from the ruble. He was using a mysticism spell to telekinetically manipulate the rocks, he blasted them at the old man. He was surprised but quickly raised a shield the moment before the rocks collided with him. A cloud of dust rose from where he was standing and when it settled, a pile of rocks could be seen.

Zendar telekinetically moved the rocks out of the way, the old man's right side had been crushed but he was still alive.

"Where is Mannimarco?" Zendar said. Standing over him. The old man gave a slight smile then suddenly levitated upwards, Zendar jumped back. The old man landed on his feet, his crushed body began regenerating, the flesh was moving, bones reconstructing themselves, torn skin mending itself.

"Quite a wonderful spell this is, isn't it?!" the old man said as he laughed. "I created it myself! He chuckled. As his body finished regenerating, he began blasting Zendar with fireballs. Zendar raised a powerful ward in his left hand and began running to the old man who was standing still. Zendar deflected fireball after fireball using his ward. The old man saw Zendar was too close and instead of fireballs began summoning a powerful spell. He stretched his arms out, then moved them in a circular motion. Zendar knew the spell the old man was preparing to cast, it was an alteration ritual spell, a master level spell requiring the ritual movements for increased effectiveness of the spell. The spell itself was called Dragonhide, a spell so powerful it is said to make the skin or armour of the caster harder than the scales of the ancient Dragons. The old man raised his arms in the final movement of the incantation then slammed them down, releasing massive energy and hardening his skin to a level beyond what any armour could ever offer.

Zendar ran forward with his sword and with lighting speed, cut forward with it. The old man willingly left himself open. The smile on his face began to exude blood as it turned into a frown; his head was separated cleanly from his body. It fell to the ground and rolled behind the body which had fell to its knees before hitting the ground. The old man had never met anyone or anything that came even close to scratching his skin with that spell active. Zendar realized the head was still alive while the body was stone dead. Zendar picked up the head.

"To… think I would… be defeated…" blood dripped from the mouth and flowed from the neck of the living head.

"Where is Mannimarco?" Zendar said again. The head looked at Zendar.

"He is... at the end of this cave," the head gave Zendar a smile, "What is... your name?" he asked.

"Zendar Lanius," the head heard the name then gave its last breath. Zendar stood up, incinerated the head and body just in case, then continued onward.

Zendar could hear noises from the room up ahead. As he approached, he could make out Troll roars. There was a large wooden door between the tunnel leading up to the room and the room. Zendar pushed on it but it was barred from the other side. Zendar took a few steps back and blasted a fireball at the door shattering it open with its explosive force.

"Who's there!?" A voice called.

Zendar walked into the room.

"Who in Oblivion are you?" A necromancer asked. "Why did Koreor let you through?"

"Because I killed him," Zendar replied. Zendar saw two large frost Trolls in a cage.

"What!?" the necromancer was taken aback then recovered his composure. "What do you want here?"

"I'm going to kill Mannimarco." Zendar said. The necromancer had genuine laughter escape him. Suddenly Zendar disappeared. He had used an invisibility spell.

"What!?" the necromancer ran towards the back of the room. Zendar had no doubt he was trying to get to Mannimarco for protection. Zendar appeared in front of him and the necromancer ran into Zendar. He seemed to have realized Zendar actually plans to kill Mannimarco, and if he killed Koreor, the old man, he might not be so in over his head.

"Please, I beg you, they force me to be here you see," the necromancer begged and groveled. He was slowly backing up while speaking. "Mannimarco is horrible, he tortures us, makes us do everything he wishes, horrible things, you see," he backed up against the cages. Then instantly opened them releasing the Trolls. "Destroy him you beasts!" the necromancer laughed as if he had outwitted Zendar. The two massive Trolls charged at Zendar. Zendar lifted his left hand and instantly charmed the Trolls with a command beast spell. He then commanded them to kill the necromancer.

"What!?" The necromancer turned to run but the one Troll grabbed his leg pulling him back with great power then released him causing him to ragdoll backwards. The other Troll ran towards him and pulled off an arm, accompanied by a bloodcurdling scream from the necromancer. The Troll then stuffed the arm into its mouth. The other Troll approached the necromancer, who was squirming in pain and fear, then thrashed him with its powerful flailing forelimbs.

Zendar was already on his way towards the end of the cave.

This final passage was long and Zendar had a feeling the next room would be where he found who he was looking for.

He approached another large door, this one however, was open. Zendar stepped into the room. It was a massive, circular opening in the cave, Zendar guessed it must have been a hundred yards in diameter. The roof of the cave rose high as well. Most of the ground was dominated by a large, flat circular area surrounded by a stream of water that was fed from one side and drained at the other. There were four small bridges connecting the open space to the rest of the ground. This space had strange inscriptions written on it. Zendar recognized the Daedric symbols but, surprisingly, there were other foreign symbols he could not make out.

Before he saw all this, the first thing he noticed was who he assumed to be Mannimarco at the far end of the opening. He was sitting at a desk, a tome levitating in front of him. Zendar also noticed another figure at the far right of the opening. The figure was just standing there.

"Zendar Lanius, I've been expecting you," Mannimarco said as he got up. His voice echoed through the expanse of the room. The tome closed itself and came to rest on the desk.

"Where is Marlon?" Zendar asked.

"Don't worry, your boy is just fine. You should thank me really, I'm doing him a great favour," Mannimarco said, slowly walking towards the circular area. He crossed one of the small bridges and stood at the far side of the circle.

"Do you really intend on fighting me?" Mannimarco said.

"Where did you take Marlon?" Zendar demanded. He started walking towards the circle. Mannimarco smiled.

"I know of your skills, but to challenge me alone, you must be quite confident, Zendar," Mannimarco said.

"Enough of your insolence," Zendar crossed the bridge and drew his sword. "Face me Mannimarco and prepare yourself for your long overdue death," Zendar said, Mannimarco laughed.

"I'm afraid you have one more opponent to face before you get to face me. You enjoy a challenge don't you, Zendar?" Mannimarco said with a coy look on his face. Zendar saw the figure towards the right begin to move. He was wearing black and red robes, slightly different from what the rest of the necromancers wore. He had a bald head and expressionless face.

"This is Lovilian, he is the second in command here," Mannimarco said. "If you defeat him you get to play with me." Lovilian crossed the bridge on the right, Mannimarco went back to his desk.

"Show him the power of a true necromancer, Lovilian!" Mannimarco shouted. He was entertained.

Suddenly Lovilian exploded in a dash towards Zendar. He blasted an icicle at Zendar. Zendar chopped it in half sending two shards of ice piercing into the wall behind him. Lovilian manifested a spectral sword in his right hand and swiped it at Zendar. Zendar ducked beneath it and connected a lighting fast kick into Lovilian's gut, the angle of the kick made him fly into the air and caused him to crash some distance away on the ground. Lovilian was winded, he was rolling on the floor unable to breath.

"Is this your strongest man?" Zendar asked Mannimarco. He did not reply and his amusement from earlier had completely vanished.

"You think this fight is over?" Lovilian said as he got up, recovered from his previous state.

"Clearly you want to hurt some more," Zendar replied. Lovilian had underestimated Zendar. He was used to never having to exert himself or push his own limits.

Lovilian charged up electricity in his hands, then put them together to increase the power. He blasted a huge bolt of lightning at Zendar, Zendar quickly raised a ward which blocked the attack.

"That old man's lightning strikes had more stopping power to them, are you sure you're number two?" Zendar said, playing a bit of mind games with his opponent.

The truth of the matter was that Koreor was not part of the Necromancers, he was merely a mage who engaged in less ethical practices and thus was banned from the Mages Guild. This is why he had no problem telling Zendar that Mannimarco was indeed in this cave, he had no obligation to him. His indulgence in dark magic and the fact that he was not bound by ethics allowed him to gain great power. He only now and again worked alongside the necromancers when he wanted to. If however, Koreor did join the Necromancers, which Mannimarco wanted him to, he may have taken Lovilian's place as second in command.

"It's unfortunate he had to die," Mannimarco said. "I was grooming him to join our cause and to replace Lovilian. After all, my current second-in-command has become quite weak and let his position get to his head," Lovilian looked at Mannimarco in great distress. "Come now my loyal Lovilian, show me that I am mistaken and that you truly are as powerful as you believe you are."

Lovilian realized that magical attacks would not work on his foe. He was an expert at close combat, and his fortification spells made him much stronger. It was how he managed to block Odar's axe with his bare fingers.

Auras exploded around Lovilian as he cast speed and strength fortification spells. He dashed toward Zendar with a conjured sword. This time Zendar didn't have time to dodge. He blocked the ethereal blade with the Goldbrand when suddenly another blade was conjured in Lovilian's left hand and was flying at Zendar. Zendar grabbed Lovilian's wrist, stopping the blade. Now both fighter's arms were indisposed, and both fighters went for a headbutt resulting in equal damage to each other. They both staggered backwards but Zendar recovered faster. He swept his blade at Lovilian who had just recovered, he jumped backwards but was nicked by the blade on his right leg. Lovilian looked at his wound, then up at Zendar, he was furious.

This time Zendar opened with an attack. He swiped his sword at Lovilian resulting in a clash of swords. Lovilian had released the blade in his left hand and was now using one blade only. A series of swordplay followed, blades attacking, blocking, swiping and being parried. Lovilian's sword met Zendar's and they were locked in a struggle, both fighter's pushing hard against each other's blades. Suddenly Zendar's blade swooped Lovilian's out of the way, Zendar then quickly followed with a elbow to the exposed neck. Lovilian dropped to the ground coughing. Zendar stood over him. Lovilian held his throat and coughed blood. Zendar kicked him in his side sending him rolling across the ground.

"You, bastard…" Lovilian said between his coughs. Zendar was walking towards him to finish it, however Lovilian was not done yet. He quickly jumped up and blasted flames at Zendar. Once again, Zendar held out his powerful ward, shielding him from the flames. Lovilian backed away as Zendar approached slowly.

"It's over, give up and let me kill you. You're only humiliating yourself now," Zendar said. Something triggered in Lovilian and he lashed out at Zendar with all his rage. Zendar dodged the strike and countered with a strike of his own, Lovilian surprisingly managed to dodge most of the strike but suffered a massive laceration down his chest and abdomen. Part of his robes fell over. His abdomen was muscular but void of any scars. This meant that he was always strong enough to never be injured in a fight. Zendar thought how strange it must be to be reckoned as the strongest to only suddenly be defeated by an enemy far stronger than you could have imagined. Then another thought crossed his mind, could it be possible that Mannimarco was far stronger than what he could imagine?

Lovilian was now panting and crouched forward. His one arm was held across his abdomen.

"You… will never win," Lovilian said. "We have already won, even if… you kill me, I will not die," Lovilian looked at Zendar with a slight smile. Suddenly Zendar unleashed a massive fireball at Lovilian, the blast sent him flying back into the cave wall, ruble flowed over him.

"That was certainly entertaining!" Mannimarco said as he got up from his seat. "You've managed to kill everyone in this cave, well done!" Mannimarco paused "Everyone, _except me_."

Zendar faced Mannimarco. He was now walking over the bridge. He held a large staff with a skull on top and was adorned with all kinds of bones. His black cape dragged behind him, black, spiked pauldrons poked out from under the cape and the red skull and bones insignia was on the plate on his chest. Zendar removed his coat and tossed it away.

"You know, this kind of thing only happens once in hundreds of years, perhaps thousands. A clash between two people of our caliber," Mannimarco tapped his staff to the ground, his cape flew off of him, his ash white hair fluttered and the ground vibrated. "Why don't you join me Zendar? Imagine the things we could achieve together, we could change the history of Tamriel, I could show you the ways of immortality, you could become a god as I have. We could overthrow the Empire-" Mannimarco stopped speaking as he saw Zendar starting to perform a ritual destruction spell. His arms moved in circular motions, heat began building up around him, then he released it all.

From the ground above, it felt like an earthquake. A few trees were brought down and fissures formed in the ground. Inside the cave, Zendar was stood in the middle of what used to be the large circular area with strange inscriptions. The ground around Zendar in a fifteen yard diameter was molten red and melted. The entire room had been engulfed in an inferno hotter than the skyforge in Whiterun. Smoke rose to the top of the room, the walls were all red but had returned to their normal colours as they quickly cooled. As the smoke rose, Zendar saw Mannimarco's silhouette. As the smoke rose further he could make him out clearly. He was completely unharmed, he had not even moved. It was as if the inferno never touched him.

"My my, that was quite rude," Mannimarco said. "Very well, let's fight fire with fire." Mannimarco touched his staff to the ground and exactly the same spell was cast. Raging hot flames blasted outwards from Mannimarco and consumed the entire room. This time the integrity of the cave began to give in. The passageway into the cave had been covered with fallen boulders and rocks. In the moments after the spell, molten rock dropped from the cave ceiling but cooled quickly. As the smoke rose, the ground around Mannimarco was also molten and red. Mannimarco saw Zendar at the edge of the room. He had been blasted into the wall but he seemed alive. Zendar had cast his ward but it was shattered by the impact, his armour was charred black. Zendar was slightly dazed, the smoke made him cough. He looked up to see where Mannimarco was but he could not see him, he had disappeared. Suddenly Zendar sensed something behind him. It was Mannimarco, Zendar had no idea how he got there but there was a fireball charging at the tip of his staff. Zendar had just enough time to form an X with his arms and sword before being blasted by it. He flew through the air and landed in the middle of the room, the once red-hot floor and walls were now solid again but still warm.

"What's going on Mr. Lanius?" Mannimarco taunted. Zendar kept lying on the ground. "You killed Koreor, you defeated Lovilian, all with relative ease," Mannimarco chuckled. "Have you ever seen a fight between two beetles? It is in their nature to battle one another. They are powerful little creatures for their size. But they are still _insects._ " Mannimarco began walking towards Zendar slowly. "When you see them engaged in their little fight, you have all the power to just step on them and kill them with no effort. The difference between an insect and a person is as the difference between a god and a person. You realize that now, don't you?" Mannimarco was now standing over Zendar, Zendar wobbled onto his feet and stood groggily in front of Mannimarco. "Poor little insec-" Mannimarco suddenly let out a grunt accompanied by blood flying from his mouth. Zendar had, in an instant, rushed forward and stabbed Mannimarco in the gut. There was a moment of disbelief in Mannimarco and a moment of utter confusion.

"A chaurus reaper is still an insect," Zendar said.

"You insolent," Mannimarco hit his staff against the ground sending a wave of energy outwards blasting Zendar away. Zendar landed on his legs and slid backwards. Mannimarco immediately retreated by disappearing into thin air. Zendar realized this wasn't some invisibility spell, it was actual teleportation. Zendar had never seen a spell like that before, he didn't know it could be done. He saw where he teleported to however, it was towards the opposite side of the room. Mannimarco was releasing immense amounts of restoration magic.

"A necromancer using restoration magic, how ironic," Zendar taunted Mannimarco. At this point both fighters were unsure of their opponent's abilities. Zendar has no idea what Mannimarco is capable of and Mannimarco has no idea the extent of Zendar's power, he may have just been toying with Lovilian for all he knew.

"I have heard much about you Zendar," Mannimarco began. "Youngest grandmaster of the Blades in history, unrivaled with the sword, master of the arcane," Mannimarco seemed to have recovered. "These are all great achievements, the best any mortal can do. I too was once like you. A mortal with limitless potential. I was the best, but I was shunned when expanding my expertise to the dark arts." Mannimarco and Zendar began walking towards the center of the room. "Never before have I been defeated, and never shall I be. I have been alive for over two thousand years! And finally, after all this time I have been given the key to true transcendence the key to… CHIM," Mannimarco chuckled. "That key is Marlon," Zendar became enraged and lashed out with arcs of lightning. Mannimarco did the same. The entire room was lit by fierce lighting, each fighter's lighting blocking the other's. The struggle went back and forth, neither fighter letting up. Eventually Zendar shouted as he prepared his final effort, he put all his power and magicka into charging up this final wave of energy. It was blasted from his hands, which then flowed through the already present lightning arcs, causing them to inflate in thickness as the wave flew over them. Mannimarco did the same to meet Zendar's efforts. In an incredible scene, the two waves collided in the middle which intensified the struggle even further. Where Mannimarco's began and where Zendar's ended was not clear but they both kept the spell firing. The bolts arced up and down and left and right. Suddenly there was an explosion of energy in the middle, Zendar was sent flying into the wall and Mannimarco shielded himself from the debris and shockwave.

Zendar got up instantly and ran at Mannimarco. Mannimarco sent waves of whirling, icy winds at Zendar but Zendar ran around them and suddenly they were in melee range of one another. Zendar's Goldbrand came slicing through the air at an immense speed, it was going for the throat. The blade stopped instantly as it met Mannimarco's staff. Mannimarco held his staff in a blocking motion. That same slice cleanly cut off Koreor's head. Zendar saw Mannimarco's staff was damaged and the block was not as fast as Zendar was expecting. Zendar turned around, swiping his leg around and tried to swipe Mannimarco's feet from under him but Mannimarco disappeared in that instant. Zendar looked over at Mannimarco. There seemed to be a limit to this teleportation. He could probably not teleport very far away.

"What's the matter?" Zendar said. "Afraid of fighting me in close range?" It seemed Mannimarco increased the distance between them every time he was in a pinch.

"How amusing," Mannimarco replied. "You know, it's been a while since I faced someone like you, you remind me of old Vanus," Zendar knew who that was. Mannimarco was referring to Vanus Galerion. One of the greatest mages of all time, he founded the Mages Guild solely to defeat Mannimarco. They started off as students of the arcane on the isle of Artaeum. Where one was honorable and good, the other became corrupt and evil. Vanus attempted to stop Mannimarco's dark ways and eventually summoned an army to battle Mannimarco and his necromancers. Vanus died but Mannimarco was forced into hiding as his cult members were all slain. "Yes now that I think of it, you are very much alike," Mannimarco began charging an icile at the tip of his staff. "You will die just as he did!" The icicle fired. This one came at a far greater speed than the one Lovilian shot at Zendar. Zendar realized he wouldn't be able to dodge in time or slice it so he summoned his ward and focussed as much magicka into it as he could possibly muster. The icle hit the ward and penetrated it. The tip of the icicle was an inch from Zendar's chest and the force of the impact sent Zendar skidding back. Zendar looked up and he saw a barrage of icicles coming at him at unimaginable speeds. Zendar cast an ebonyflesh spell, hardening his armour and erected his ward once again. The onslaught of icicles lasted a few seconds and when it was over Zendar had managed to remain unscathed. He saw Mannimarco charge up another barrage but before he could fire it Zendar cast an invisibility spell and he was gone. Mannimarco blasted the area where he was standing but nothing hit him.

Mannimarco was cautious. He did not know where Zendar was.

"Oh, who's the scared one now?" Mannimarco taunted. "Come on out, we can finish this quickly. Oh how I'd love to enslave your soul and experiment on your corpse," Mannimarco remained cautious while speaking. Zendar was still nowhere to be seen.

Suddenly Zendar appeared out of thin air, he was right next to Mannimarco and his blade was closing in with a jab. Mannimarco reacted immediately and dodged backwards, he charged up a fireball on his staff, pointed it at Zendar but Zendar knocked the staff to the side with his sword and thrusted the blade at the open Mannimarco. Zendar simultaneously blasted a fireball towards the opposite side of the room as his blade closed in on Mannimarco. Mannimarco suddenly vanished from the path of the sword. When he reappeared, he was struck by an exploding fireball. Zendar blasted firebolts into the smoke where Mannimarco had been hit. Firebolt after firebolt flew into the smoke and dust. When Zendar at last stopped due to his magicka starting to fade, he was out of breath. He kept his eye on the unsettled dust. As the smoke and dust cleared, Zendar saw Mannimarco knelt on one knee. This was a sight that no one had ever seen before, the great Mannimarco brought to his knees.

Mannimarco stood up. He looked serious now. He realised that he was not only fighting a foe who had perfected every fighting method but also a brilliant tactician.

"Don't you understand Zendar?" Mannimarco said, his voice was slightly shaken. "This battle is meaningless, I have already seen the future. It is written in fate, I have spoken with Lorkhan himself. His will will be made manifest and he has chosen me to ascend beyond godhood. Nothing you can do will change this." Mannimarco walked slowly towards Zendar.

"Whatever you believe is going to happen will come to an end here today," Zendar replied.

"Oh but it won't, all the pieces of the puzzle have been arranged. From Mannuelle," Mannimarco paused and gave a slight smile while looking at Zendar, Zendar frowned. "To Marlon, it all has played out perfectly. You coming here is just a side story, something that has nothing to do with the final objective," Mannimarco and Zendar were now waking in a circular motion.

"Tamriel has suffered enough under your actions, I will do a service to the Empire in ridding you from this world," Zendar said, determined. "And I will have my son back!" Zendar charged forward. Mannimarco let out a shout, twirled his staff then hit the ground with it causing a massive blizzard to form in the room. Zendar shielded his face from the intense wind and ice, he couldn't see Mannimarco. His stamina was draining and he felt weak. Suddenly Mannimarco was behind Zendar and and a bolt of lightning blasted from his staff. Zendar was too slowed by the blizzard to dodge and he took the full impact of the lightning bolt. He was not thrown back, rather he was struck then he fell to his knees.

The wind and ice died down. Zendar struggled to his feet but was blasted again instantly after he stood up. This time he was thrown back and he landed face down on the ground. His sword was still in his grip.

"And so we come to the end of our tale," Mannimarco said. "You will sink into oblivescence as the years-" Mannimarco grunted in surprise. Zendar stood up. Mannimarco had underestimated his tenacity. Zendar unleashed magical energy as he cast incantations. He cast speed, strength and agility fortification spells as well as a spell known as Stendarr's Aura. Any undead being near Zendar will be burnt, given Mannimarco was a lich, the spell would be effective. Zendar began walking to Mannimarco, he was lit up like the sun, his hair flailing and his eyes glowing. Stendarr's Aura raced around him, shining brightly outward. Mannimarco responded with incantations of his own. He was surrounded with darkness, death and decay. The forces of death rose from the ground like corpses from their graves to aid Mannimarco. The two fighters were oppugnant like night and day.

Zendar dashed forward with such speed it cracked the ground he was on. Mannimarco could not see him but he could sense him and in the next instant a blade was descending upon Mannimarco. However, there was something different about this attack, there seemed to be afterimages forming, Mannimarco had no idea which was the actual blade so he teleported back. The moment he appeared, Zendar appeared next to him, the sword sliced upward this time and Mannimarco erected a magical barrier to shield himself. The sword hit the barrier and shattered it. Mannimarco had to be fast, he managed to use his staff to block the blindingly fast blade just in time. The blade was stopped but immense amounts of energy was being emitted from the contact point between the blade and the staff. Auras of light blasted from Zendar's side while darkness flowed from Mannimarco's. Both fighters pressed all of their possible energy into the struggle as the entire room was half filled with white aura from Zendar and black aura from Mannimarco. Suddenly Mannimarco's staff shattered. It was not sliced in half but it burst into a thousand pieces, expelling immeasurable amounts of dark energy with it. Mannimarco had never expressed such a level of shock and disbelief in his life. He was frozen in shock for a moment while Zendar's blade was unrelenting. It cut forward into Mannimarco's shoulder but he managed to disappear before the blade reached his vitals.

Mannimarco was knelt over, holding his shoulder in the middle of the room. Zendar turned in Mannimarco's direction and began to walk to him.

"Impossible! How could a mere mortal!?" Mannimarco looked up at Zendar walking towards him. Mannimarco's face was overcome with hatred and disbelief, strands of hair ran over his face. "This is impossible, this cannot end here! I will not allow it!" Mannimarco attempted to stand up but he fell back down, he had emitted too much energy. Zendar was still walking towards him, glowing like a god. "Strike me down and I will find a way to return, I cannot be disposed of this easily!" Mannimarco mustered all he could from his final reserve of magicka and blasted a fireball at Zendar. The fireball was extinguished when it came in proximity of Stendarr's Aura. "You will suffer, I will make sure of it," Zendar now stood over Mannimarco. His auras had died down but he didn't need them anymore. He just needed to end it. He raised the mighty Goldbrand and Mannimarco looked on helplessly. The blade came down onto Mannimarco's neck. But it didn't connect. Zendar stood frozen in an executioners position. He looked down to his chest and saw a massive icicle sticking out. It had pierced him from behind. The Goldbrand fell from his hand. A trail of blood flowed from Zendar's mouth. He turned around and saw Lovilian. He was on the floor, his injuries were severe but he was alive. Mannimarco let out a villainous laugh.

"You fool!" he continued to laugh "Did I not tell you that fate had already been written!?" Mannimarco coughed. "This is proof, not even you could stop me," he laughed and coughed in jubilation of his victory.

Zendar wobbled on his feet then turned back around and looked back at Mannimarco who had just barely managed to stand up. Suddenly Zendar began summoning a storm of electricity and shouted as he charged it. Mannimarco could not believe his eyes once again and he stumbled backwards. Electricity arced from Zendar and he focused his final energy between the palms of his hands when suddenly another icicle hit him from behind. This one in his gut. The electrical energy faded, Zendar looked down at his body, he saw two icicles pierce outward from his abdomen, then a third. His legs gave way and he fell on his knees. Mannimarco's laugh faded from his hearing, his eyes blurred and his thoughts went to his son. He collapsed in front of Mannimarco.


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

The morning of the 9th of First Seed Zenny would be released from the Chapel's care. This day also marked the third day since Zendar left to find Marlon. Erina had not said anything to Zenny and with each passing minute she grew more and more nervous. She did not sleep the previous night. She stayed awake in the living room waiting for Zendar to come back.

As the morning sun shone through the window, it slowly creeped over Erina's unmoving face. When the rays hit her eyes she suddenly awoke from her trance. She realised she was supposed to fetch Zenny at the Chapel. She got up and left the house.

When she arrived at the Chapel Zenny had already got up and readied himself to leave.

"Morning ma," Zenny said. Erina was lost for a moment then she returned to herself. She looked at Zenny and said with a smile:

"Morning Zenny, feeling better?"

"I've been feeling better since the first day, it's about time they let me go," Zenny said.

"Are you going back to your house out there or do you want to stay in Skingrad for a while?"

"Think I'll stay here for a while, I gotta talk to pa," Zenny said. "I've had some time to think about what he did, I think I should apologize to him," Erina's face became pale and her gut tumbled but she maintained her friendly look.

"Let's go home." She said.

Erina had told Zenny that his father was out for work and she didn't know when he'd be back. Erina was seated exactly where she had been sitting the previous few days. Zenny was in the kitchen making food. He came out of the kitchen and asked his mother:

"What's the best seasoning for the fishsticks, ma?" Erina didn't hear him.

"Ma? You've been acting strange this whole day. What's going on? You look so pale as well," Zenny sat next to his mother. She didn't take notice.

"Ma your making me nervous, what's going on?" Zenny said with some added desperation.

Suddenly there was a loud knock at the door. Erina shot up and ran to open it. She ripped open the door, overcome with desperation. She looked up at the figure standing in front of her. She recognized him but it was not her husband. It was Shinji. She made the connection and let out a agonizing wail. She bashed her clenched fists against Shinji's chest through her anguish. Shinji stood motionless, looking forward over the afflicted woman with no expression.

Zenny came running to his mother's aid. He saw Shinji, his blood boiled and he grabbed his tunic at the neck and shoved him away from his mother. Erina dropped to her knees, sobbing.

"What did you do to my mother!?" Zenny shouted. Zenny had pushed him out into the middle of the street while still holding his tunic. "I'll kill you right now you bastard what did you do!?" Passers by stood to watch the commotion.

"Calm down," Shinji said.

"Oblivion with that, what did you do!?" Zenny pushed Shinji away making him stagger backwards. Zenny was still wearing an apron and had no weapon on him so he conjured up a sword in his hand. The crowd gasped and whispered. Zenny lashed out at Shinji, Shinji drew his blade and the swords clashed. They stood in a struggle. Zenny withdrew his blade then swept it at Shinji who dodged it. Shinji remained on the defensive, blocking and parrying Zenny's strikes. Before the battle could go any further Erina yelled:  
"Stop!" Zenny looked at his mother, still on her knees. Her face was a mess of mucus and tears. Zenny ran to her and fell to the ground beside her. Shinji sheathed his blade and walked towards them.

"What did he do to you ma?" Zenny asked desperately "What did he do!?" Zenny saw Shinji approaching "Stay back!"

"Enough, Zenny," Erina said. Zenny looked at her confused. "He didn't do anything to me,"

"What? Then wha-"

"Let's go inside," Erina sniffed "We have much to discuss,"

The three of them sat in the living room. Erina was silently sobbing, Zenny glared at Shinji but remained utterly confused and Shinji, as always, remained expressionless.

"By the nine, would you spit it out already, what is going on!?" Zenny snapped.

"What I am going to tell you is going to cause you great distress," Shinji said calmly. "Please try to restrain yourself," Shinji paused and took a breath. "Your father is dead." Zenny shot up.

"What did you say!?" Zenny walked over the coffee table right at Shinji. Before he could lay his hands on him, Erina intervened.

"Stop!" She yelled. "It's the truth Zenny…" Erina let out a sob and began crying again. When Zenny saw the distress in his mother it suddenly hit him. That would explain his mother's anguish. However, at the same time the reality of his father's death did not process well in his mind. His father had been the best. The strongest. Unbeatable. How could this have happened? Zenny was torn between accepting reality and being unable to comprehend his situation. He stood looking at his mother in complete confusion.

"Take a seat, young Zendar," Shinji said. Zenny was still stupefied, it was as if his mind was broken. Mindlessly, he went and sat next to his mother, his face riddled with disbelief and bewilderment. "Three days ago Zendar went to retrieve Marlon." Zenny's confused face warped into surprise but he remained speechless. "He had been kidnapped by Mannimarco using unknown magic." Zenny was shocked, he could not process all this at once. "Zendar went to retrieve him alone." Shinji paused. "It seems he had been overcome by the necromancers." Zenny's face twitched. This revelation had come too fast for him. He had too many questions. He opened his mouth as if to say something but then froze again, perplexed. "Two days ago I sent my scouts to find Zendar. By his own request, purposefully asking for them to come find him earlier than he told you he would return. They went to a cave he said he would leave a source of information. They found a lone necromancer locked in a cage. After interrogation, they traveled to the site where he faced Mannimarco. It took them a day to gain access into the cave after moving the collapsed rubble. They retrieved Zendar's body and noted no enemies in the cave."  
"Where is his body now?" Erina asked weakly.

"It has been taken back to Cloud Ruler Temple," Shinji replied. "He will be given an honorable burial."

"Don't begin it without us," Erina said, teary eyed. Zenny still could not process his father's death.

"Listen," Shinji said. "My scouts found something of great importance in the cave." Erina looked up. Shinji put a hand into his pocket and produced an amulet, it's crown gem was missing. Zenny, however instantly recognized it and removed his own amulet. Zenny's had a red gem where the one Shinji was holding was missing its gem.

"That's…" Zenny said.

"Yes, it's your brother's."

"Why is the stone missing?" Zenny asked, confused.

"We believe Mannimarco has placed some kind of spell on it to keep Marlon from escaping," Shinji replied.

"What? But, Manuelle gave us these years ago, how could Mannimarco have anything to do with this?" Zenny's mind was racing, his reality had become so twisted he was not sure of anything anymore.

"Manuelle betrayed your father, and us," Erina said.

"What?" Zenny said quietly and in utter confusion.

"He had ties with the Necromancers," Erina said.

"I- What? Thi-" Zenny couldn't figure out what to say. He dropped his amulet to the ground. A tear followed.

There was a moment of sadness and the atmosphere was heavy and depressing.

"With this however, we know Marlon is still alive, he left us this as a clue for us to find him," Shinji said.

"And how are we going to do that?" Zenny replied. "If my father couldn't-" Zenny's voice croaked and his eyes teared up. He tried to suppress his sadness.

"Mannimarco must have been severely weakened, he has gone into hiding to revive his strength," Shinji said. "We must strike while he's down," Zenny kept crying softly, he felt depressed and he felt like the world has come to an end.

"What about Manuelle?" Zenny said through his tears.

"I will handle him," Erina said. Zenny looked at his mother and saw the conviction in her eyes and realized that no one would be able to tell her otherwise.

"Zenny, I am going to find Mannimarco and continue where your father failed. Me and a few other men are up to the task, will you join us?" Shinji asked expectantly. Zenny looked up from his hands, his eyes were no longer sad and full of weakness but had changed. They were on fire with resolve.

"Yes," He said.

The following morning, Erina and Zenny were saying their goodbyes outside the city gate. Erina was headed to Wayrest in order to bring Manuelle to justice. She was going to Anvil and then take a boat to Wayrest. Her horse was loaded with supplies and ready to leave. Zenny was going to meet with Shinji at the Fighters Guild to become familiar with their plan.

Zenny and Erina stood embraced. Zenny's eyes were tearing up and Erina sniffled in her sons arms. Erina had a hard time letting Zenny go with Shinji, she feared the worst, if Zenny were to fall to the same fate as his father, she would have no reason to continue living. Zenny on the other hand, was completely at ease with his own situation and he trusted in his mother's ability. He was just sad to leave her.

Erina looked up at her son, they gave each other understanding gazes. Erina hopped onto her horse, Zenny held out his hand and Erina grabbed it.

"I love you my son," She said.

"I love you too ma, travel safe," Zenny replied. Erina smiled then whipped her horse into a trot. Zenny watched as she disappeared over the hill. His demeanor then changed, he had a new goal, probably the most challenging thing he has ever had to face in his life.

Erina rode the entire day. She took the Gold Road which ran from Anvil in the west to the Imperial City. She managed to make it about halfway between Kvatch and Anvil before stopping at an inn by the road.

Erina got off her horse and left it in the stables. It was dark and foggy, she covered her head with her hood, shielding her face from the cold night air. She entered the inn, it was warm and unusually festive, even for an inn. People were singing and getting rowdy. She walked up to the innkeep, he was a short Imperial man.

"Evenin' lady, what'll it be?" The innkeep asked.

"A room for the night please, and some stew with bread and an ale," Erina said.

"Aye, sorry lady, we're all full tonight, but we do have warm stew, fresh from the pot," Erina was shocked, the other nearest inn was a few hours away in Anvil, she was tired from riding all day and would now have to risk riding in the darkness of night. She felt miserable.

"Are you absolutely sure?" Erina asked, hoping for a miracle.

"Aye, some rich lad bought out the entire inn for tonight, it's someone's birthday I believe," The innkeep said. Erina's heart sunk.

"Can I sleep in the stables?" Erina asked.

"Oh I can't have a pretty lady like you sleep with the beasts, doesn't seem natural!" the innkeep said.

"I don't mind," Erina said hastily. "I don't mind at all," she said again, but slower. The innkeep scratched his head and made a wry face.

"Very well, but you don't have to pay, so long as you have the meal," the innkeep said. Erina smiled and was heartwarmed by the man's generosity.

"Thank you so much, may the nine bless you," Erina took a seat at the bar. She turned her head and looked at the people enjoying their evening. A few lads were partnered with girls and danced in circles with their arms locked together. They were singing a famous festive song, one man was playing his heart out on the flute while a different one banged away on a drum. A young man suddenly jumped onto a table with his drink in hand. His face was red and he seemed off balance. He stretched his free hand to a girl who shyly accepted. He downed his drink while she carefully got onto the table. The innkeep saw this as he gave Erina her food and shouted:  
"Get off of there you damn kid!" The young man didn't have a worry in the world as he danced with the girl on the table. His motions were lively and spirited as he hopped with his hands holding hers, the girl just followed his lead. The innkeep came up to the table.

"I said get off of there you bloody punk!" The young man ignored him, the innkeep was furious now and went to the corner of the inn to fetch a broom. He ran at them and suddenly the young man jumped off and the girl held her head and screamed. The innkeep chased after the man, they ran circles around the table each one changing directions as soon as the other did. The scene caused great amusement among the other guests. They cheered along the innkeep trying to get at the man and laughed hysterically simultaneously. Erina giggled as she ate her meal.

The young man finally tripped and the innkeep hit him a couple times with the broom, the man went into a fetal position. The innkeep dropped the broom and grabbed the man.

"You're out of here!" the innkeep said as he dragged the man across the floor. The guests laughter was building even more now. The innkeep threw him into the stables where he passed out. When he came back in, he went over to Erina.  
"Guess you get a room after all," the innkeep said.

"You can't be serious?" Erina replied.

"I am, since the room is payed for you can stay there. The man who rented out all these rooms is too far gone to even understand what's going on. You're just swapping places," The innkeep smiled. Erina smiled back

"Thank you."

Erina slept warm that night. She knew she had a long journey ahead of her.

The following day, Erina arrived in Anvil in the afternoon. Erina had always had a fondness of Anvil, it had some of the most beautiful sunsets in Tamriel. The architecture was unique and beautiful and the residents were friendly. Erina hired a boat that was scheduled to head for Wayrest the following day. Although she normally would have loved to take a stroll in the streets and listen to the cathartic sounds of the docks while admiring the views, she took her place in her room on the boat and meditated on her goal.

Over the next two weeks Erina was at sea. The boat sailed west and then northwest past the isle of Stros M'Kai until they finally reached the Iliac bay region between Hammerfell and High Rock. Wayrest's docks were almost as busy as Anvil's. As Erina's boat docked, her heart began to flutter. She had spent every waking moment of the last few weeks going over all the possible outcomes in her mind. She was, however, unaware that what was about to happen to her was something she would never have expected.

From the docks, Erina asked a town's guard for directions to the nearest inn then proceeded to make her way towards it. It was her first time in High Rock but she didn't pay attention to much of the sights the city had to offer. Wayrest was a large city dominated by typical Breton architecture. The streets were clean but busy with Noble Bretons, Argonian dock workers, Imperial merchants and a few Orcish blacksmiths carrying steel to and from their forges.

Erina walked into the inn, she immediately scanned everyone in the vicinity but did not find Manuelle. She walked to the innkeep. He was a tall High Elf.

"Fivefold venerations. May I offer you a drink?" the innkeep asked.

"Yes, please," Erina said as she took a seat at the bar. The innkeep filled a mug with ale and placed it in front of Erina.

"Do you know a man called Manuelle?" Erina asked, softly.

"Why yes I do, he's the richest merchant in Wayrest," the innkeep replied.

"Where is he?"

"What's your business with him?" the innkeep asked, his eyes squinted slightly as if he didn't trust Erina.

"I'm a friend from Skingrad," Erina said. "He's good friends with my husband and I thought I'd pay him a visit while I'm in town," Erina said.

"What's your business in Wayrest then?" the innkeep seemed quite defensive of Manuelle.

"Just her for some research, I'm part of the Mages Guild you see," Erina produced an amulet of the insignia of the Mages Guild.

"Interesting," the innkeep said. The innkeep ended up giving Erina Manuelle's home address.

Erina didn't want to seem in too much of a hurry to leave the inn, but she left quickly nonetheless. Her heart was now racing. She was eager to bring Manuelle to justice, the man who took her son from her. His friendly facade ate at Erina as well, her blood boiled when she thought about it. She marched quickly through the streets. She came upon the house the innkeeper specified. It was not as luxurious as she was expecting given that Manuelle was the richest man in the city. It was an average stone house, built in the Nede style. The neighborhood seemed to be comprised of middle class Bretons. Erina didn't have time to wonder why Manuelle decided to live in this house and eagerly yet cautiously she gave the doorknob a twist. Locked. Erina sighed, and looked around. Her finger began to glow, then mystical blue energy flowed from her fingertip into the keyhole and suddenly the door was unlocked. It was an alteration spell most thieves were familiar with but had its uses to the veteran mage as well.

Erina entered the home. It seemed surprisingly empty. No furniture except for some barebones wooden stools and a table. An empty wooden rack stood next to the wall. There were stairs leading to the upper floor and Erina walked toward them. She took one step and suddenly plummeted through the floor. Before she even realized what had happened, she fell into a cage. She took a hard fall and struggled to stand up.

When she did, she looked around her trying to figure out what happened. She looked up and saw a closed cage, there was a trap door in the ceiling beyond the cage bars. The top of the cage had a closed door. It was open when she fell in but had closed after she hit the ground. Erina checked the ground in the cage and noticed a pressure trap. This probably caused the top of the cage to shut when fell in. Erina realized she had been fooled by the innkeeper. She immediately began to think of ways to escape. She blasted lighting at the cage but it had little effect. She did it again but this time she kept firing the lighting, the bolt of lighting tethered to a bar. Erina kept the lighting on the bar and soon the bar began turning red. Erina realized she could escape when suddenly she fell to the floor, simultaneously causing the lighting to retract. She was exhausted and she felt her reserves of magicka completely depleted. She tried using the same spell but she produced only minor sparks. The bar was beginning to solidify again as the redness slowly turned dark again.

Erina looked around for the source of whatever was sapping away her magicka. She noticed three obelisks, each mounted with a red stone with engraved sigils. She felt her energy leaving her body and knew those stones were the cause. Before she could consider her next move, she heard footsteps.

Erina saw a belly first then the rest of the man. It was Manuelle. He was wearing blue velvet clothes and his patchy hair was slicked back. Erina stood up and ran at the bars holding one in each hand.

"You bastard!" she yelled.

"Erina please," Manuelle said, holding his hands up and moving them in calming gesture towards Erina.

"I'll never forgive you you traitorous skeever!" Erina yelled. She bashed her hands against the bar several times. "Let me out of here!" she yelled. Manuelle looked at her and sighed.

"It would have been so much easier if you didn't find out the truth," Manuelle said.

"How do you sleep at night you filth!?" Erina beamed.

"How did you find out?" Manuelle said.

"You will rot in Oblivion when I'm done with you," Erina snapped.

"I'm afraid the only one in danger here is you, my dear Erina," Manuelle said.

"Don't patronize me you filth," Erina said. Manuelle smiled. Then spoke again.

"Erina, I beg you, just tell me how you knew about me… I don't want to hurt you,"  
"Did you want to hurt Marlon!? He was just a boy!" Erina yelled. Manuelle sighed again, then walked over to a lever. He flipped it which caused the stones on the obelisks to spew sparks of electricity into the cage and at Erina. Erina was engulfed in pain, every muscle in her body was spasming as she dropped to the floor, squirming uncontrollably.

After a few seconds Manuelle flipped the switch back. Erina lay motionless on the floor, she had foam drooling from her mouth. Her once smooth hair, now frizzy.

"I know you can hear me, that was just enough to keep you conscious. Now, you're going to tell me how you knew about me otherwise we're going to have to resort to more painful methods."

A tear dropped from one of Erina's eyes. She was tough but pain was pain. Nevertheless her willpower was unmatched. She pushed herself off the floor. Got on one knee then pushed up and got to her feet. She was a bit off balance. She looked at Manuelle, he looked back expectantly hoping she'd reveal her knowledge. She spat at the ground then gave him a disgusted look. Manuelle seemed disappointed then proceeded back to the lever. He pulled it, Erina let out a gut wrenching scream and fell to the ground again, shaking in agony. Manuelle returned the switch and Erina's suffering subsided.

"We're going to keep doing this until you speak. These obelisk's lighting is designed for pain and not for killing. You can end it right now and spare yourself immense suffering," Manuelle said. "Besides, I don't find much pleasure in this, it's rather barbaric."

Erina coughed and stood up once more. The side of her face had dirt on it and her clothes were filthy now too. Once again Manuelle looked at her expectantly. Erina looked around this time, trying to find anything that could help her escape.

"You're wasting your time, Erina," Manuelle said. "Countless others have been in the same situation as you and none have escaped."

"If I talk, what will keep you from just killing me?" Erina asked.

"Did I say I wasn't going to kill you?" Manuelle answered. "You will die, it's just a matter of how much torment you wish to endure before you do." Erina's gut tumbled. She was still human. Her survival instincts nagged at her to beg for her life but she refused them. She refused to die, she couldn't leave Zenny alone by himself and she had to be there for Marlon after Zenny rescues him. Marlon had lost both his parents once before, she could not let it happen again.

By now Manuelle had brought a chair next to the lever, his body did not remain standing easily.

"So what will it be: immense pain or a swift death after telling me everything? Your choice." Erina could see a hint of enjoyment in Manuelle's eyes. Her skin crawled at the thought of his vile ways.

"Why are you doing this? What are the necromancers giving you that could make you throw away your humanity so easily?" Erina spoke in a soft voice, her body was exhausted from all the convulsions.

"What reason other than money and power?" Manuelle replied. "They sometimes need a regular man to get things done in the real world, I oblige and in turn they give me fortunes in gold and influence in the underground across Tamriel."

"Is that why the innkeeper works for you?"  
"Of course. Do you know how many have tried what you are trying? You make a lot of enemies doing what I do, I have several systems in place to ensure my security," Manuelle explained. "Now, I'm afraid I'm going to have to flip the lever again unless you're willing to speak now since we're having such a nice conversation," Manuelle smiled slightly.

"You make me sick to my sto-" Erina's scream cut her off. She fell to the ground once more writhing in her suffering. Blue flashes fell on Manuelle's emotionless eyes as he watched her scream. He kept the electrocution going for a while longer this time. Manuelle was about to flip the switch back when he saw something that astonished him. Erina was trying to stand up through the pain of her electrocution. Manuelle couldn't believe his eyes. Erina stood up slowly but managed to get to her feet. She was still convulsing but she maintained her balance. Now Manuelle definitely didn't want to turn off the lever, he was going to have to kill her. He did not expect this type of tenacity from her, he felt that he might have underestimated her.

Erina brought her hands to the center of her body as if she was charging something then suddenly with a shout she threw her arms outwards, sending reverberations of energy back through the bolts of lighting that were torturing her and into the red stones. All of the stones exploded at once and suddenly the basement room was completely silent.

Erina's experience and talent as a mage had saved her. When she first fell in the cage and her magicka was drained, she had no idea how she was going to escape. However, when she was electrocuted, she felt the energy from the stones and realized she could absorb some of the energy from the electricity and, combined with the little magicka she had, she could send a wave of energy through the connection between her and the stones made by the lightning bolts and thus overflow the stones with energy and destroy them.

Manuelle was frozen in awe. Erina was facing downwards and she was panting. She looked up at Manuelle who suddenly snapped out of it and scrambled backwards. Erina blasted a lighting bolt at each one of the bars in between her and Manuelle. Her power was returning fast and the bars quickly turned to molten iron. Erina stepped out of the cage. Manuelle made a break for it but Erina shut the door in front of him with a telekinetic spell and locked the door.

"Please Erina, I was being forced to do this… those necromancers are horrible! They threaten to kill me if I don't oblige," Manuelle grovelled on the ground. Erina kept walking towards him slowly with a storm like aura around her and glowing white eyes.

"Erina please!" The desperation in his voice peaked.

"When we first met, did you not say: 'Your reputation precedes you, Lady Erina,'?" Manuelle did not answer but looked on in horror. "Knowing my reputation, why did you not kill me instantly?"  
"I didn't want to kill you! I could never do that! You're my best friend's wife!" Manuelle tried desperately to mollify Erina. Erina approached and grabbed Manuelle by the neck and with augmented strength held him up off the ground.

"Zendar died because of you!" Erina shouted. Manuelle's shock could not manifest on his face from being choked but he was truly shaken to his core to hear Zendar died. "He died trying to rescue Marlon!" Erina threw him against the wall cracking the wall and Manuelle's back. He arched his back in pain and positioned one arm on his back then looked up at Erina.

"I'm sorry," Manuelle said. It was the only sincere thing he had probably ever said. Erina noticed this and hesitated for a second and in that instant Manuelle produced a poison-coated dagger from behind his back and jabbed it at Erina. Erina did not move, as the blade came into proximity of Erina it began to disintegrate. The entire dagger disintegrated and Manuelle stood stretched in a attacking position but was frozen in absolute defeat. Manuelle's action caused Erina to become enveloped in a uncontrollable rage. She blasted a tremendously powerful bolt of electricity at Manuelle. It went straight through his fat gut and destroyed the wall behind him. Manuelle fell to his knees, he looked down at the gaping hole in his abdomen and attempted to cover it with his hands. Erina's rage was unsatiated and, completely high on her rage, she let out a deafening scream accompanied by intense magical energy flowing from her, the energy became so intense the room became enveloped in a white light originating from Erina. Manuelle vainly shielded his face but being directly in front of Erina caused his skin to start disintegrating. He shouted in agony as his skin burned off of him followed by his flesh. His cries stopped as his skeleton was exposed and subsequently vaporized.

The entire ordeal left a crater where a house once stood.


	11. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Zenny watched as his mother disappeared over the hill. His nervousness of her was calmed by him remembering his mother's capabilities. Once she was over the hill, his thoughts turned to his own predicament. When he woke up this morning he would have never believed how this day would turn out. The revelation of his father's death, the betrayal of a family friend and the fact that Marlon's whereabouts can be determined. He stopped trying to have it process in his mind and accepted the fact that he wouldn't be able to do it for a good while. Instead, he was just going to take action.

Zenny entered the Fighter's Guild. Shinji was seated, waiting. He looked up at Zenny.

"Come," Shinji said then got up and led Zenny into the same room in which Odar revealed his story. Drakin, Odar and Swims-The-Seas were inside, waiting. There was a bit of an awkwardness in the air, Drakin shuffled in his seat then spoke.

"Zenny… it's good to see you, Shinji told me about what happened… I can't imagine what it must be like for you," Drakin said.

"I have yet to come to terms with reality Zenny said, I'd like to keep it that way for now, it'll keep my mind clear for what's to come," Zenny said. He looked at Swims-The-Seas who looked back with mournful eyes, it seemed as though he wanted to speak or comfort Zenny.

"Very well then," Drakin said. "I take it your mother is on her way then."

"Yes she is," Zenny replied.

"She will be fine," Drakin said reassuredly.

"I know she will," Zenny said. Drakin gave a slight, understanding smile at Zenny.

Shinji and Zenny took their seats. Everyone looked expectantly at Shinji. He was the one who had most of the intelligence regarding Mannimarco's whereabouts.

"I'm going to tell you all everything I know and what the best course of action will be from here," Shinji said. "Three days ago, Zendar left to destroy Mannimarco and to rescue Marlon. He unfortunately failed in his task. Before he left, he gave instructions to me as to what should happen in the case of his failure. Given I have no personal stakes in this matter, I was apathetic to rescue Marlon. However, when the threat of Mannimarco came to light, I could not abandon my duty as a member of the Blades. We cannot allow Mannimarco to practice the dark arts as he pleases. He has a history of endangering the entirety of Nirn and it's most likely, given his recent actions, his plans will be greatly consequential once more."

Zenny remembered what he had heard about Mannimarco. His struggle against Ganus Valerion, the founder of the Mages guild. His key role in the events of the Planemeld which almost led to the fusion of Coldharbour and Nirn and, most recently, his ascension to Godhood by utilizing the Totem of Tiber Septim and the Mantella, two artefacts of immense power. However, something did not make sense to Zenny. He had learned that when Mannimarco ascended to Godhood, he took on a celestial form of a moon, did his physical appearance on Nirn mean that he has reverted his form?

"I thought Mannimarco ascended to take on a divine celestial form as a moon? How is he in Tamriel?" Zenny asked.

"I had the same question." Shinji replied. "The most likely explanation is that the Mannimarco that Zendar fought is the mortal remnant from his apotheosis." The men around the table seemed confused.

"I am the only one here who has seen him in the flesh," Odar said. "He does not seem like a mortal to me."

"Mannimarco is one of the most powerful necromancers who ever lived, of course he wouldn't seem like a mortal," Shinji replied. "Besides, that is not my theory, it was my duty to inform the Emperor of this situation. He then had his best scholars come up with that theory."

"Did he inform the Mages Guild?" Drakin asked

"No he did not, I told him of Erina's request to keep this under wraps until we can deal with it, otherwise, the Emperor and the Mages Guild will launch a full scale attack on the necromancers and Mannimarco." Shinji paused. "Let us not have it come to that."

"Alright Shinji, tell us how you plan to find him," Drakin said.

"We are working on that," Shinji said.

"Who's we?" Zenny asked.

"The Emperor's personal adviser, Mavus Calverius, one of the most brilliant scholars in the Empire is leading an investigation. His work in gathering intelligence is unmatched. He said it might take a few days to a week in order to track him. Zenny did not expect it to be that quick.

"Are you sure it will be that fast?" Zenny asked. "I cannot imagine Mannimarco's hiding place will be easy to find."

"Indeed it won't," Shinji said, "But Mavus has agents across Tamriel, many skilled in the arcane and even some undercover as necromancers. I trust his judgement."

"What do we do until then?" Odar asked.

"We prepare." Shinji replied. Everyone seemed to be on the same page.

"Very well," Drakin said.

The men got up and left the room but Swims-The-Seas stayed back and grabbed Zenny by the arm to talk with him.

"Zenny," Swims-The-Seas said. Zenny turned and looked at him. "About your father-"

"Swims." Zenny said sternly as if to shun the subject.

"I just don't know what to say," Swims-The-Seas said.

"I know you care, Swims. Thank you. But right now you don't have to say anything. Let's just focus on what's ahead, I'll save my mourning for afterwards," Zenny said. Zenny could see Swims-The-Seas was not just concerned for his wellbeing but was also truly shaken by his father's death. "Come on," Zenny gestured Swims-The-Seas along.

The men spent the next week planning, sparring, and preparing mentally for the task ahead. During this time, Odar realized that Zenny and Shinji were in a league of their own when it came to combat. Not only could they defeat him with a blade but they both also possessed immense magical capacity. Odar knew how he measured up against most fighters and that he could handle almost anyone but still he could never win against those two. Because of this, Zenny and Shinji would spar against one another, and Odar and Drakin against each other.

Drakin and Odar's combat abilities were almost equal. Both of them were exceptional fighters. From all of the times they sparred together, Odar had won eight times and Drakin seven. Odar was about ten years younger than Drakin who was now in his fifties. Dark Elves such as Drakin maintain their youth for longer than the races of however.

Odar and Drakin were sparring in the Guild's practicing area, the same place Zenny and Shinji had their immense battle. The battle had been going on for about ten minutes and both men were panting. Odar, held his two-handed battle axe and Drakin his ebony blade in his right hand. Drakin swung the blade at Odar who blocked it with his axe. Odar then threw his boot towards Drakin's chest. Drakin narrowly dodged and in the same motion, swung around and dropped to the ground while sweeping his leg around. The menouvre caused Odar's legs to fall out from under him and his heavy body hit the ground with a thud. Drakin went for the finishing blow and Odar yielded. Drakin held out his hand and Odar grabbed it. Drakin strained slightly helping the big man back up.

"Good fight, Odar." Drakin said. Odar didn't reply and walked past Drakin back to the guild. Odar was still a proud Nord and hated losing. Drakin felt that the fact that he was a Dunmer didn't help much either.

Shinji, who had been observing the fight, walked over to Drakin.

"He respects you, you know," Shinji said while looking onwards at Odar walking away. Drakin was slightly surprised.

"How do you know?" Drakin questioned.

"I've seen his type before, big Nord. Hates losing. But if there's one thing a Nord can appreciate, it's a powerful warrior, be he man or mer." Shinji explained. "He may not show it, his pride won't allow it, but he thinks highly of you," Shinji walked away. Drakin was left standing with a bit of an inflated sense of self-worth. Mostly, however, he was glad he could gain the respect of a powerful fighter like Odar through his combat ability.

Drakin was snapped out of his little trance when he sensed a commotion from inside the guild. He quickly ran inside and found Swims-The-Seas had opened the door to a robed woman.

"Who are you?" Swims-The-Seas questioned. She was bent over, her hands resting on her knees as she panted loudly. She took a moment to catch her breath before she stood up and uncovered her hood. It was an Imperial woman with a pretty face, blonde hair and blue eyes. An expression of desperation was pulled over her face. Swims-The-Seas did not recognize her and neither did Drakin.

"Where is Shinji?" The woman asked desperately. At that moment, Zenny and Shinji came into the room.

"Sophia!" Shinji said, surprised.

"I must speak with you urgently," the woman said. Other members of the Fighter's Guild were confused, none of them knew about what was going on. Drakin didn't allow questions to be asked of Odar or Shinji. It was for the best however, Drakin thought. He shared Erina's sentiment that this entire situation was of a far too great a scale for it to become common knowledge.

"Come," Shinji gestured the woman to the conference room. Drakin gave a stern look at the onlooking guild members and they returned to their business. Although they were curious, they preferred not to get involved given how strict Drakin was about the subject.

The woman sat down at the table and Swims-The-Seas placed a mug of water next to her. All of the men were now in the room and watched the robed woman drink the water. She exhaled as she finished her drink and placed the mug on the table. She looked gravely at the men around her giving her their undivided attention. She paused for a moment as if to gather her thoughts then spoke.

"I'm Sophia, a member of the Blades. I've been sent to inform you on what's happened in the Imperial City," Sophia paused. "First of all, we've managed to track Mannimarco's whereabouts." Zenny thought that they would be cheering when they learned of Mannimarco's whereabouts. However, the reality turned out to be far different. The woman's demeanor was far too serious for bringing good news, Zenny knew that something horrible had happened. Everyone was dead silent and looking on expectantly. "We traced his location to the Deadlands," the woman said. The Deadlands was the plane of Oblivion ruled by the malevolent and powerful Deadric Prince, Mehrunes Dagon. It was a place of suffering, turmoil and death.

"You can't be serious," Drakin said.

"I'm afraid so," Sophia replied.

"This means Mannimarco has some sort of relationship with Dagon," Shinji said. "That makes me feel very uneasy."

"The King of Worms has previously aligned himself with Daedra, whatever they're up to it cannot be good," Swims-The-Seas said.

"Dagon is on an endless quest to invade Nirn, he's done it countless times in the past and no doubt he's up to something once again," Shinji said.

"I'm afraid that is not the worst news I bring," Sophia said. Everyone quieted down and became anxious. "The reason we know Mannimarco is in the Deadlands is because the daedra came to us and not the other way round."

"What!?' Zenny erupted. "How did they know?"

"Some of our sources had pointed to the Deadlands and when we sent scouts in to investigate…" Sophia paused "Only their mutilated corpses were thrown back from the other side of the portal," Sophia paused once again and everyone was silent for a moment.

"That doesn't explain how you know Mannimarco is in the Deadlands," Shinji noted.

"Indeed," Sophia said. "There were daedric runes etched into their corpses. It translated into a taunt. It said Mannimarco was waiting for us. And also… that Dagon's minions are eager to have their way with our bodies as well," Sophia looked down. The men were silent until Odar slammed the table with his hand.  
"Those damned daedra and those cursed necromancers!" Odar shouted then folded his large arms and calmed down.  
"That's not evidence enough though, of Mannimarco's location," Drakin said. "They could be taunting us or luring us into a trap."

"That's wasn't all," Sophia replied. "One of the corpses, it… It rose from the dead in its mutilated form but did not attack us. Instead, it spoke with a strange voice. It claimed to be Mannimarco,"

"What did it say?" Zenny asked sharply.

"He said… 'Marlon and I have taken a little holiday to the Deadlands, the view is spectacular, so much death, so much suffering, it's wonderful,'" Sophia said, speaking monotonously when imitating Mannimarco. Zenny's blood boiled and he shot up from his seat. Shinji put his hand on his shoulder and Zenny forced himself to calm down. Sophia continued: "He then said, 'Marlon don't you want to say something to your brave, would-be rescuers?' A difference voice then spoke through the corpse, it sounded like a young man and he simply said, 'Don't come,' the corpse then fell to the ground and turned to ash."

The room was quiet for a moment and everyone was coming to terms with the situation.

"Why would he say not to come?" Drakin asked.

"He probably doesn't want us to risk our lives," Zenny replied.

"It is gravely dangerous, no one would want anyone they care about to do what we're about to do," Shinji said.

"We don't have much time," Odar said. "The longer we linger, more power is restored to Mannimarco,"

"He's right, we should act quickly," Shinji said. "Sophia, can you do it?" Sophia was one of the leading mages in the Blades and was well versed with portal magic.

"I can. I will have to go with you in order to reopen the portal should we make it out alive." Sophia explained. She then paused and took a breath before speaking again. "Should I fall, you should use this," Sophia produced a black stone that glinted red in the light. "This is a Sigil stone, an influx of magicka will cause it to open a portal which will lead to a room in the Mages Guild in the Imperial City. It is risky since it may not always work and is very fragile, use it as a last resort."

"Very well," Shinji said. He took the stone from Sophia and secured it within a pocket beneath his light chest armour.

"I will open the portal shortly then. Everyone, make whatever final preparations you must,"

Everyone left the room and suited up in their respective armour, grabbed weapons and prepared their thoughts before returning to the room. Sophia had summoned a portal.  
"We must hurry, it takes a great deal of energy keeping it open,"

Shinji ran in first followed by the rest of the team. Swims-The-Seas was behind Zenny and watched him walk into a portal to Oblivion. Swims-The-Seas thoughts drifted back to the time when Zenny was a young boy, over eager to go on an adventure. The boy who hung at his lips for stories of battles and different adventures. Swims-The-Seas knew that that boy would lose his mind if he knew what he would be doing in a ten year's time. The Zenny in front of Swims-The-Seas right now however, was not excited or happy to be going on an adventure, the only objective on his mind was to save Marlon and destroy Mannimarco.


	12. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Zenny stepped through the portal and into the Deadlands. The first thing he felt was the heat and then the stench hit him. It was putrid, like rotting flesh. He looked around and saw towering buildings with spiked arches raising from their sides. Lava flowed around miniature islands and stormy red clouds overcast the sky. Lightning flashed and thunder roared. Large volcanoes surrounded the horizon with rivers of lava flowing from them. The ground was barren, dry and scorched. A few dead trees dotted the landscape.

"This… is Oblivion." Odar said. "As disgusting and vile as I imagined. Talos preserve us."

"From what we've learned, our objective is that tower," Sophia pointed to a tower far larger than the others about one hundred yards away. "We'll have to use the islands to make our way there while avoiding the lava." Sophia led the group. They jumped from island to island across boiling lava. The large tower was situated on a larger stretch of ground and they finally managed to make their way on it. The tower was now straight ahead. The group approached it cautiously when suddenly a voice spoke from behind.

"It seems the necromancer was right about you. I never thought mortals would be so foolish as to willingly come here." Everyone turned around at looked at the creature. It was a Xivilai, a powerful race of Daedra, prominent with magic. He stood tall with light blue skin and dark hair. He had black horns protruding his forehead with intense white eyes and wore a daedric loincloth around his waist. His chest and arms were tattooed in red with daedric insignia.

The Xivilai suddenly blasted a huge fireball at the group. Sophia erected a ward that blocked the explosion. Suddenly a clannfear was conjured from thin air by the Xivilai next to the group. It was a large reptilian beast that stood on its hind legs. It had a large and flat skull with long forelimbs and razor sharp claws. It lunged it's jaws at Odar who threw his axe's pommel in between him and the beast; the jaws clamped down on the pommel. Shinji meanwhile, rushed at the Xivilai who quickly manifested an ethereal shield to block Shinji's attack. Shinji's attack was blocked but he quickly recovered and attacked again. The Xivilai jumped back, avoiding the attacks.

Odar swung his axe to the side which sent the clannfear into the ground. Drakin and Zenny took advantage of that and killed it by slicing it with their swords. Zenny disemboweled the creature while Drakin severed its neck from the body. The Xivilai kept attempting to put more distance between it and Shinji but Shinji was too fast, before the daedra could retaliate again, Shinji's blade had cut through his abdomen. The deadra had been sliced in half and the two parts of his body fell into the ground. Shinji returned to the group.

"That's the first of many, we must be vigilant," Shinji said.

Together they continued towards the tower and they cautiously entered it. The tower occupied a very large surface and was tall. Once inside, they could make out a stairway on the other side of the building at the very end of a long hallway that ran the length of the building and several rooms on each side.

"What now?" Zenny asked.

"Whatever we decide, we should stick together," Sophia replied.

"Agreed," Shinji said. "Let's clear this bottom floor then head upwards and continue in such a pattern," Shinji suggested. The team nodded in agreement. This allowed them to search the entire building, leaving no loose ends about the location of Mannimarco.

Shinji led the group towards the right door. The giant room was empty, all the doors on the right led to it as well. There were some altars and artifacts but no threats and no sign of Mannimarco. They cleared the other side then headed up. The second floor had an identical arrangement which was most likely the same layout all the way to the top. They cleared the first room and on their way out of the room they walked straight into a Dremora coming down from the third floor.

"Intruders!" the Daedra shouted as he pulled his Daedric greatsword from over his shoulder. He looked like a typical Dremora, a race of Daedra. They were tall, had black skin with red tattoos, short curved horns and pointed ears like an Elf. Dremora typically wore Daedric armour which was remarkably resilient. The armour was spiked and jagged, mostly black with red colouration along the contours of the armour. Their weapons followed a similar design, being serrated.

The Dremora swung his sword downwards at Shinji and before Shinji could block, the sword was stopped by Odar's axe.

"Go!" Odar shouted. "I'll catch up!"

"Foolish mortal! You dare underestimate me!?" The Dremora lifted his sword and brought it down again as the group slipped by and up the stairs. Odar kicked the exposed chest of his foe sending him staggering backwards. A flurry of swipes, parries and blocks followed. Odar was enjoying himself, he could unleash his most primal desires, to kill and to battle.

The Dremora were sentient creatures and had their own cultures. Daedra served under different Daedric Lords, Dremora mostly served under Mehrunes Dagon. Mehrunes Dagon was the Deadric Prince with the most Daedra under his command, Dremora were typically the most powerful of these servants. The Dremora would rank themselves depending on their combat ability and would constantly be trying to attain respect and power by proving their power. In many ways Odar was similar to this evil creature he was fighting.

The Dremora's sword flew through the air, Odar stepped in and grabbed the Dremora's arm. Their weapons were now useless as they were face-to-face. The Dremora was slightly taller than Odar. Odar suddenly rammed his horned helmet into the face of his enemy. The Dremora staggered backwards, holding his face with one hand. Odar brought his axe down at the Daedra but it dodged backwards. Odar retaliated with another swing of his axe which the Daedra dodged again but it hit his sword, sending it flying out of his grip. Odar rushed forward at this opportunity and impaled him with the end of his axe. The momentum of this attack pushed pushed the Dremora back until he crashed into the wall. The Dremora coughed up blood and Odar wrenched the axe. The Dremora screamed then dropped to its knees.  
"Fools, you will all burn…" Odar pulled his axe out followed by the Dremora hitting the ground. Odar heard fighting noises upstairs and quickly rushed upwards. When he came to the next floor, everyone was in their own struggle against a Dremora. He scanned the room to see who needed assistance before another Dremora came from behind him. Odar heard this and quickly turned. He saw the Dremora charging at him with a longsword raised in the air. Odar charged forward and ran into the Dremora with his shoulder before he could bring down his sword. The impact sent the Dremora falling backwards down the stairs, Odar quickly followed up and before the Dremora could get up, he cut his head vertically in half with his axe.

When Odar went back up, there were bodies of dead Dremora on the ground and his allies had pushed two into a corner. One of them stabbed at Zenny who parried the sword to the side and followed with his own stab. His sword shot through the Deadric chestplate and into the creature's heart. Meanwhile, the other one attempted to swing his blade horizontally to hit everyone cornering him but Shinji caught its arm then stepped into its knee breaking the knee and forcing it to the ground. Swims-The-Seas quickly followed by decapitating the Dremora.

Everyone took a sigh of relief.

"Is everyone alright? Shinji asked.

"Everyone seems to be fine," Drakin said.

"Where'd they all come from?" Odar asked.

"There were two on this floor but more came from upstairs," Zenny answered.

"There are most likely more of them further up," Drakin said. "They should not be underestimated."

"Let's keep going," Sophia said.

They continued upwards. The next few floors were void of confrontation. It seemed most of the Daedra in this structure had attacked them.

As they continued up the stairs, a mighty voice like that of a raging fire suddenly boomed from nowhere.

"So they actually came." Everyone was startled, then stood ready for an attack but no one could tell where the voice was coming from. "Because this is amusing to me, I shall allow you to continue, I wonder how this confrontation with Mannimarco will end. Will he die and your friend be rescued? Or will you all succumb to my minions or eventually the Necromancer? I shall be watching,"

"Is that Dagon?" Swims-The-Seas asked.

"It must be," Sophia replied.

"He knows we're here, our mission just became far more dangerous," Drakin said.

"We push onwards regardless," Shinji said.

After a few more flights of stairs, the group reached what seemed to be the top floor. There was nothing distinguishably different between it and the previous floors, except that it had no staircase leading further upwards. Zenny spotted a lever of some sort on the far side of the hallway.

"Shall I go pull it?" Zenny asked.

"We should remain cautious, but yes, go ahead," Sophia replied. The group followed Zenny to the other side of the hallway. Zenny grabbed the lever and pulled. It suddenly clicked into its alternate position and Zenny stood back. For a second nothing happened until vibrations could be felt through the floor. Something was shifting. Suddenly the entire wall next to the lever began elongating outwards stretching itself into a further hallway. The wall itself retracted by some mechanism leaving just the extended walls and revealing a connection to a neighbouring tower.

"It seems we've been connected to a different tower," Drakin said.

"We were not sure what we'd find up here but we should move on," Sophia said. The group proceeded through the hallway. Everyone emerged on the other side, weapons ready for any kind of ambush. This building was approximately the same size as the one they just came from, however it did not have the hallway and two sided room arrangement. Instead, the entire floor was open making it seem much larger.

Shinji sensed something coming up the staircase and directed everyone's attention toward it. Everyone readied themselves. The first thing everyone saw was a pointed helmet then the face it rested on. It was an undead face, not skeletal, but reminded Zenny of drawings he had seen of Nordic Draugr. The figure wore many layers of robes and wielded a large staff with three spikes at its end that bended outward and inward. It was levitating about a foot off the ground.

"That's some kind of lich, keep your guard up and be weary of magical attacks," Sophia said.

"How interesting," the lich spoke in a ghostly voice. "In all my years I would never have thought mortals would willingly come here."

"Where is Mannimarco!?" Zenny shouted.

"Know your place, mortal. You must face me first if you wish to find him. He is very busy. Together we've been working on some very interesting things."

"Why are you working with Dagon?" Shinji asked. The lich chuckled condescendingly then paused before realizing the one asking him was being serious and, as if out of curiosity, the lich decided to answer.

"He offers us a safe haven to work in while we bring him the information, power and resources needed for some of his ambitions for the future." The lich chuckled ominously.

"Nightingale will yield chaos and send your realm into disaster."

"What are you talking about?" Shinji asked.

"You will soon know. Now, I've had enough of this talk. Let me introduce you all to Vuldabayoth," The Lich slammed his staff against the ground sending out a powerful shockwave forcing everyone to shield themselves as they were pushed backwards.

"Come forth, Vuldabayoth! Come forth and destroy in the name of Mehrunes Dagon!" A large portal opened. First, a massive pair of salivating jaws emerged followed by a large reptilian head. Giant claws sunk into the ground then pulled the rest of the body out of the portal. It was a giant Daedroth. It stood nearly twenty feet tall. Daedroths had huge heads that reminded Zenny of the crocodiles he'd seen in the Strid river except this creature had four, short and thick horns sticking out from the top of its head. It stood on its hind legs and had muscular forelimbs that had enormous claws at the end. A long and powerful tail, with a spiked end, stretched out from behind the beast which could destroy nearly anything with its swipe. The beast's compact and muscular body was covered in extremely hard and thick scales.

"By the gods! It's huge!" Zenny shouted. The Daedroth roared into the air then blasted flames from its jaws at everyone in front of it. Everyone ducked for cover or jumped out of the way. Swims-The-Seas took the offensive and charged at it, going for one of the tendons in it's massive hind legs. An unnaturally quick swipe of its arm hit Swim-The-Seas with the back of it's scaly hand which sent Swims-The-Seas flying into a wall. He fell to the ground, unconscious.

"Swims!" Zenny shouted. Shinji noticed the lich had disappeared.

"We must remain coordinated in our attacks!" Sophia shouted.

"Let me and Zenny distract it, we are the fastest. You, Odar and Drakin focus on dealing as much damage to it as possible," Shinji said. Everyone nodded in agreement.

Zenny and Shinji dashed forward. The beast swiped at them but they both dodged the attack. Drakin slid underneath the Daedroth while it was busy attacking and managed to cut it's slightly softer underbelly. Odar stood right in front of the beast as if taunting it to attack. The beast did exactly that and brought it's huge arm down on Odar. Odar quickly jumped to the side, dodging the impact which caused the Daedroth claws to become stuck in the ground. Odar then quickly ran up the arm. Sophia blasted a lightning bolt directly in its face to distract it from Odar running up its arm. The beast managed to free its arm then swung it at Sophia who did not expect it to reach her. She managed to erect a ward just before the impact but it was shattered during the collision and she took the hit from its open claw. The force sent her skidding across the floor, there were tears in her robes which were becoming stained in red.

"Sophia!" Shinji yelled. He then looked at Zenny "Zenny! Slice the other ankle on my mark! Drakin stab it's gut!" They then ran into position and Shinji gave the command. Zenny and Shinji sliced its ankles, severing the tendons it needed to stay standing. Drakin, who was underneath the beast, stabbed into its gut then ran the blade along its abdomen as he ran out of the way of the crashing body. Odar, who was on the beast's shoulder, hefted his battleaxe into the air and brought it down towards the Daedroth's skull. As soon as the beast's head hit the ground, Odar's axe connected with the back of it's skull, splitting it open and killing the beast instantly.

"Sophia!" Shinji yelled. He ran over to her, she had been deeply cut by the Daedroth's claws. Her robes were bloodstained and she was dying.

"You did it," She said. "Now go on… you're nearly at the end."  
"Dammit!" Shinji yelled. He knew he could not garner her enough medical aid to save her life and to turn back now would contradict their whole purpose. Besides, she was the one responsible for opening the portal. Shinji tried his best to heal her wounds with restoration magic but it was having little effect.

"Remember... the stone," Sophia said weakly. "It's… been an honour, Shinji," her breath faded and she died in Shinji's arms. Shinji did not scream or yell but remained silent.

Zenny meanwhile was checking up on Swims-The-Seas who had also sustained considerable injuries during the battle.

"Swims, can you hear me? Are you alright?" Zenny asked desperately but clearly. Swims-The-Seas' eyes opened slightly and he seemed to struggle up.

"Whoa, whoa, take it easy. You took a big hit back there, you need to take is slow," Zenny said. Swims-The-Seas looked at Zenny, his vision was blurry and couldn't focus.

"Zendar?" He asked. Zenny was confused. Swims-The-Seas had never called him by that name before.

"Yes, it's me, Zenny," He replied.

"Zenny?" Swims-The-Seas responded. Zenny realised Swims-The-Seas was completely disoriented and there was not further point in trying to talk to him, he just had to make sure he was okay from here on out.

"Swims looks pretty bad, he won't be able to continue," Zenny said to the rest of the group, only then realizing that they were all silently stood around Sophia's body. "Gods, no," Zenny said in disbelief. He had seen she'd taken a hard hit as well, but this confirmed his worst fears.

Zenny made his way over to them while supporting Swims-The-Seas with his arm over his shoulders.

"She didn't make it," Shinji said, grimly. "She was a fine member of the Blades, and gave her life for the security of the Empire and the Emperor. She could have asked for no better death," Shinji tore a large piece fabric from his tunic underneath his armour. He gently folded it around her head.

"I'll carry her," Odar said. Shinji looked up at Odar, surprised at Odar's offer then accept it with a nod.

"We'll move slower now, we must proceed cautiously," Drakin said. The group began to move towards the staircase which led further upwards.

"Where's that lich?" Odar asked.

"I didn't see where he went," Shinji replied.

Mehrunes Dagon, the Daedric Prince of Destruction, sat relaxed in his humanoid form on his throne in front of Mannimarco. He had red skin, with scarified designs across his body. He had four powerful arms and six, short black horns on his head, the middle two stood out more prominently. He had short tusks similar to those of an Orc protruding from his bottom lip and small, yellow glaring eyes. Among the people of Tamriel he was one of the most feared Daedric Princes. By his side stood a Dremora. He was wearing typical deadric armour but no helmet. His face was angular with a prominent brow and cheek bones. Like most other Dremora, he had dark blue skin with red tattoos flowing across his face. Unlike most other Dremora however, his hair was as white as snow; it was short and streaked backwards. Two backwards curving horns protruded from his light hair and two daedric blades hung at his hips. There was an air of poise around him.

"These intruders pursuing you seem quite capable, Lich," Mehrunes Dagon said. "I remind you that I don't offer protection whilst you remain here, if they kill you, I will not stop them."

"Haven't your subordinates already engaged indirectly in protecting me?" Mannimarco spoke back to Mehrunes Dagon.

"Of course not, they are cleary dead and those coming for you are clearly still coming for you," Mehrunes Dagon replied. "Their energy is fascinating."

Mannimarco turned and looked at a young man stood at the end of the room, looking through an uncharacteristically perfect hole in the wall. It was Marlon. He was looking across the expanse of the Deadlands. He had created the hole himself through some magical mechanism.

"I told them not to come," He said monotonously.

"It was a wise warning, they were foolish not to heed it," Mannimarco said. Marlon remained silent. "I sense Heivul, your loyal lich, Lord Dagon." Mannimarco said.

The lich that summoned the Giant Daedroth emerged from behind the opening doors at the front of the room.

"It seems Vuldabayoth was unable to stop our intruders Lord Dagon," Heivul said.

"Do you recall me ever giving a command to stop them?" Mehrunes Dagon asked Heivul rhetorically. Heivul, like the other Dremora, had assumed Lord Dagon wanted the intruders dead. Mehrunes Dagon then looked at Mannimarco. "I want to see where this goes."

"Why are you here?" The white-haired Dremora spoke. Heivul ignored the question. "Is it perhaps you were too afraid to face our intruders?" The Dremora continued.

"Absurd. I came to see if Lord Dagon was secure," Heivul replied. Mehrunes Dagon began laughing. His deep voice echoed throughout the expanse of the large room. Heivul seemed anxious during his laugh. The Daedric Prince's laugh came to an end and the white-haired Dremora continued his questioning.

"You clearly assumed Lord Dagon wanted the intruders dead given you summoned Vuldabayoth to stop them. Why not face them yourself?" the Dremora asked.

"Enough of your insolence, Xykyl," Heivul grew weary of the questions exposing him.

"I always knew you were a coward," Xykyl said. "You fear death so much you have done everything you possibly could to preserve your own life, extending your lifespan, transforming yourself into a lich. It's pathetic."

"As long as I serve and remain loyal to our Lord Dagon, how do my self-preserving habits matter to you?" Heivul replied, having calmed himself.

"The fact that you put your self-preservation over loyalty to our Lord. By coming here when you assumed Lord Dagon wanted the intruders dead proves your disloyalty," Xykyl looked at Mehrunes Dagon. "My Lord, please allow me to slay this disloyal lich." Xykyl said with his head bowed and one hand on his left blade. Heivul nervously looked at Mehrunes Dagon looking right back at him, deliberating his fate. In the next moment, everything changed.


	13. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

A blade shot through Heivul from behind. Mehrunes Dagon's eyes widened, Xykyl saw this and followed his Lord's gaze. The blade cut upwards slicing the upper part of the lich's body in half. As the body fell, the attacker behind him was exposed. It was Zenny. He looked up at Mehrunes Dagon with great intensity. He seemed to realize that he was looking at the Daedric Prince of Destruction, however he was not interested in him but rather in Mannimarco. The rest of the group emerged from the main entrance to the room, Swims-The-Seas and Sophia had been laid outside the doors.

"Who here is Mannimarco!?" Zenny shouted.

"That is clearly me," Mannimarco spoke. Zenny turned to Mannimarco, then rushed at him. Suddenly, Marlon appeared right in front of Zenny and blasted him backwards with magical force. Zenny skid backwards on the ground, when he came to rest, he looked up in absolute disbelief at Marlon.

"Marlon?" Zenny asked while getting up slowly. "Is that you?" Marlon walked up to Zenny.

"Brother, you must leave," Marlon said.

"We're here to save you! To get you away-"

"You must go!" Marlon snapped. "This is all part of Mannimarco's plan! If his plan succeeds, he will become more powerful than anyone can imagine, far surpassing even the Deadric Princes," Marlon explained with urgency.

"What?" Zenny replied, confused.

"I will use force if I must," Marlon said.

"I couldn't care less about Mannimarco's plan," Zenny said. "I won't leave here without you… people have died to get you back to safety, I won't let their sacrifices be in vain," Zenny paused. "Pa once made a promise that you'll never be left alone and you'll always be part of our family. I will fulfill that promise on his honor!" Zenny rushed forward blindingly fast and threw a punch at Marlon's face. Marlon attempted to block but he was too slow in reacting leaving his face to take the full force of the punch. The impact sent him flying backwards.

Mannimarco began laughing in the background.

"Oh how dramatic, what a reunion!"

"That foolish child interupted Lord Dagon's Judgement," Xykyl said. He turned to his Master. "My Lord, I know you do not care about protecting Mannimarco, but I wish to destroy that insolent child," Xykyl said.

"Go ahead, Xykyl. It has been a while since you had the opportunity to face a true opponent, I sense he will be a worthy foe," Mehrunes Dagon said. Xykyl was surprised, he did not think that his Master would speak so highly of the intruders, though part of him did sense the power within the child. He drew his blade and rushed towards Zenny who had just thrown a punch at Marlon. Zenny turned around and saw the incoming attack when suddenly Shinji's blade extended before the attacking Dremora. He stopped and looked to the side at the origin of the blade blocking him.

"How noble, protecting your ally… Noble but foolish," Xykyl said.

"We don't care about you, we're only here for Mannimarco," Shinji said. "We do not have to battle."  
"I'm afraid I've decided to kill this meddling fool," Xykyl said.

"That's unfortunate," Shinji replied. Shinji really didn't want to waste time fighting a Dremora when he could be helping in the fight against Mannimarco. He wanted to end this fight quickly. Shinji's blade quickly turned and sliced at Xykyl who drew his other blade to block it. A slight struggle between their blades ensued followed by Shinji dropping low and spinning his leg around to trip Xykyl. Xykyl saw this and jumped backwards. Shinji suddenly gained some respect for his opponent, the other Dremora would have been dead at his first slice. This one's reflexes were much faster.

Xykyl now held both his blades in his hands and swung them around as he measured up against Shinji who held his single Akaviri Katana out in front of him.

"Do you know how many Daedra serve Mehrunes Dagon?" Xykyl asked Shinji.

"I've heard he has the most followers of all the Princes," Shinji replied.

"He does indeed, there are millions at his service, thousands of armies," Xykyl continued. "In Dremora culture, only the strongest can rise to the top, the handful that rise above the rest are admitted to the Valkynaz, Dagon's personal guard. I am their leader, I stand second only to the Prince of Destruction himself."

"Killing you would make a good story then," Shinji replied.

"You will learn your place, mortal," Xykyl held his blades in an X then shouted as a X-shaped beam of energy was blasted at Shinji. Shinji was knocked backwards.

Meanwhile, Odar and Drakin had assessed the situation, given Shinji and Zenny were preoccupied, they were the only ones left to face Mannimarco. They had to either kill him or get him subdued. A momentous task.

"We must work together if we're to stand any chance, Odar," Drakin said. Odar gave an affirmative grunt. "I'll use my magic to support you, try to get in close and do as much damage as you can," Drakin explained. Doing damage up close was what Odar was best at in a fight.

Mannimarco turned his attention from Zenny and Marlon towards Odar and Drakin.

"Well, well. I might have to be careful, that looks like a very angry Nord," Mannimarco said, taunting Odar and Drakin. Odar charged at Mannimarco. Drakin knew that would be Odar's strategy and raised his hand into the air causing a wall of ice to be erected behind Mannimarco. Mannimarco was slightly surprised at the sudden wall of ice behind him and with a massive axe dawning on him, he had to react quickly. He instantaneously shifted to the side, causing Odar's axe to bury into the wall of ice and leaving him open to attack. Mannimarco held out his new staff, which was equally as skeletal as his previous one, and blasted a fireball at Odar. Odar pulled his axe out but couldn't dodge the fireball. The blast sent him flying backwards. The smoke lifted revealing Odar on his knees, he then stood up. Mannimarco could now cleary see Odar. He brushed some blood from his lip with the back of his hand then spoke:

"That did hurt," he said. "But not as much as I expected it to. You haven't recovered yet have you, Necromancer?" The words triggered an anger in Mannimarco making him send out a flurry of fireballs at Odar. Odar braced himself. Drakin saw that Mannimarco was distracted and blasted a large arc of electricity at Mannimarco. Mannimarco threw out his right arm and caught the flailing electrical arc. He began absorbing the energy at which point Drakin immediately stopped firing the spell. Before Mannimarco could react, Odar came charging from behind the smokescreen and tackled Mannimarco, knocking his staff out of his hand and driving him back into the wall. Mannimarco flinched at the impact, Odar stood back and threw a punch. His fist was stopped mid air by Mannimarco's palm. He had caught Odar's fist. Odar threw his other fist which was also caught by Mannimarco. Odar, who stood at the same height as Mannimarco, then headbutted the Necromancer, smashing his head in between the wall and Odar's horned helmet. This caused Mannimarco to release Odar's fists, Odar reached over his shoulder for his axe and in the same motion begun swinging it down on Mannimarco. Mannimarco, as he was crouched over, quickly fired a massive bolt of lightning from his hand which sent Odar flying backwards. Mannimarco, who remained bent over and groggy managed to stand back up straight. His vision was slightly blurred, a streak of blood ran down his nose and strands of his white hair flowed over his face. His one composed look was all but gone.

"You naive fools! Do not think you can challenge me! Soon I'll have the power a god can only dream of and I'll make you all suffer!"

Marlon got up from the ground and dusted himself off. He was wearing a simple grey robe. Zenny noticed that his hair had gotten longer as well. His hair curled down to his shoulders and his green eyes were conflicted and hurt.

"Why do you stand in my way brother?!" Zenny yelled at him. "We're here to rescue you and destroy Mannimarco! Why don't you help us defeat him?!"

"I am forever bound by a powerful spell that keeps me from escaping or harming him." Marlon lowered his voice and stood closer to Zenny. "However, despite him keeping me under constant surveillance, I've managed to secretly develop a spell through which I could possibly counteract his spell."

"Then what are you waiting for?" Zenny questioned eagerly. "Cast your spell and help us defeat him!" Zenny whispered loudly at his brother.

"The spell is still in its infancy, Zenny. I cannot cast it now, I would risk killing myself, which I would not mind if it meant defeating Mannimarco but he would just bring me back from the dead and force me to continue in his service. Being undead, I would have no chance of ever escaping." Marlon looked down at the ground and sighed. He looked back up at Zenny with a determined look pulled across his face. "Whatever you're here to do is going to result in Mannimarco's ascendance!" Marlon exclaimed. "You have to leave us here! His fate has been written by Lorkhan! It all has been prophesied by Lorkhan, it all comes together here!"

"Lorkhan? The god that gave his life to create Nirn?" Zenny replied confused.

"I have spent my entire life studying his ambition, I have seen things that no mortal could ever imagine, I have walked many ways, trust me when I say: more than just the fate of the world is at risk. The very fabric of all creation, Nirn, Oblivion. Anu, Padomay."

"Marlon… I don't understand, but I know one thing." Zenny's eyes became watery, he looked to the side and held his words to compose himself for a moment before speaking again: "You are my brother and that will never change. No matter if Mannimarco ascends, if the world is destroyed, that will never change." A tear flowed down Zenny's cheek. Marlon looked torn apart.

"The longer you stay here the closer Mannimarco comes to ascending. Don't make me use force, brother. I beg you."

"You know I won't leave here without you. We've come too far, we're too close and we've lost too much already. You are coming back with us!" Zenny charged at Mannimarco who had just blasted a bolt of lightning at Odar. Marlon intervened once again by appearing in front of Zenny and attempted to push him back with magical force, however Zenny was ready for him this time. Zenny resisted the force and pushed through and made a break for Mannimarco once again. Suddenly an ethereal blade extended out in front of Zenny and he stopped. Marlon's magicka was pouring from his arm and came to a point in the shape of a glowing, thick ethereal blade. It was not like a conjured sword that he held in his hand, rather it was magical energy exuding from his arm in the form of a blade. Marlon held his hand out straight, blocking Zenny. Zenny looked at Marlon and saw the hurt in his eyes. He did not want to be doing this. A part of Zenny wanted to give up, perhaps they should leave. Perhaps it would be for the best. Then he thought about his father's death, the injured Swims outside the room and the dead Sophia. He couldn't leave now, Shinji would never leave either, he wasn't even here for the personal stake but rather as a mission for the security of the Empire.

Zenny looked at Marlon, a newfound determination in his eyes.

"I will destroy Mannimarco, I won't allow him to ascend. And and I will bring you back. If that means bringing you back unconscious after I defeat you in battle, then so be it." Zenny said. Marlon's face exuded disappointment. He knew now that further negotiation was impossible. He would have to face his brother to force them to leave. This was the last thing that Marlon wanted but it was for the sake of the world. For the greater good.

In the next moment, Marlon threw his ethereal blade forward with blinding speeds at Zenny who raised his sword to block the attack. The force of the impact sent Zenny flying backwards. Zenny did not see that amount of force coming, Marlon alone could not generate that much power. It seems the Magicka pouring out from his arm aided heavily in the force delivered. Marlon blasted a massive icicle at Zenny who projected a powerful ward. The icicle pierced straight through the ward followed another one, and another one. The fourth icicle shattered Zenny's ward, forcing him to parry away the fifth one with his sword only just in time. Before he knew it, a whirling mass of ice and wind flew towards him. Zenny managed to jump out of the way of the approaching blizzard only to be struck by a fireball. The explosion sent Zenny flying backwards, his momentum caused him to roll several times on the ground before coming to a stop. He brought himself to his knees, when he looked up, he saw Marlon flying towards him, his arm exuding the magical blade was bent in preparation for his attack on Zenny. The magical blade came down on Zenny and Zenny blocked the attack with his sword. The force pushed Zenny backwards, forcing him into the wall.

Shinji did not want to be stalled in his fight longer than he had to be. He got up from being forced back by the strange Daedric magic that Xykyl blasted at him. Shinji cast his signature speed fortification spell causing a large white aura to radiate from his body, his hair and clothes fluttered as if he stood in a strong wind. He began bouncing on his feet, keeping himself ready to both attack and defend. In this state, there was no one in Tamriel faster than Shinji. He disappeared almost instantly from where he was standing and crashed with his blade into Xykyl. Xykyl was fast enough to block the attack. Shinji knew he should not have been surprised given his opponent, however he could not help it since only Zendar had ever been able to keep up with him while his speed fortification spell was active.

Shinji's leg shot straight up catching the Dremora on his chin. He was not fast enough to see that one coming. Xykyl was flung into the air from the impact. Shinji started bouncing on his feet once again, waiting for Xykyl to come down. Right before Xykyl hit the ground, Shinji exploded in speed from where he was standing and swept his blade at Xykyl. Xykyl, once again, managed to block the attack, despite being stuck midair in that moment. The impact, however, sent him flying backwards. Xykyl crashed into the wall behind him. Shinji remained unrelentless and followed up immediately by dashing towards Xykyl blindingly fast and swept his blade at him once again. Xykyl was beginning to adjust to Shinji's speed and saw this attack coming. He ducked in the nick of time, Shinji was now right infront of Xykyl and his sword was extended above him. Xykyl had sheathed one sword and placed his hand on Shinji's body. He then blasted a fireball into Shinji's abdomen. An explosion sent Shinji flying away and kept Xykyl forced into the wall. Shinji hit the ground, tumbled and skid before coming to a stop. Smoke rose from his body as he lay on the ground. Xkykl took some damage from his own attack but he had been cornered too fast and needed to get some distance between him and his opponent. Xykyl loosened himself from where he was stuck in the wall and fell forward to his knees. He looked up to make sure his opponent was still down. He saw Shinji getting up on one knee. They both rose to their feet at the same time.

"I must give you credit, mortal. It's been a while since I have been pushed this far, I have forgotten what it feels like," Xykyl said.

"Recieving praise from a Deadra. How rare," Shinji replied. Shinji's demeanor changed to a serious one. "I was just warming up though, prepare yourself."

"Come," Xykyl said.

Mannimarco was no longer composed. Drakin and Odar had managed to do some damage to him. Odar got up from the ground after he had been struck by Mannimarco's lightning. Drakin saw his chance given Mannimarco's grogginess. He launched an icicle at Mannimarco. Mannimarco quickly erected a shield around him. The icicle crashed into the shield and shattered. Mannimarco realised he'd have to deal with both Drakin and Odar and so would have to deal with them one at a time. Drakin shot another icicle at Mannimarco, this time a larger one that he produced with both hands but before it could reach Mannimarco, he disappeared. Drakin was confused, he was not familiar with such a spell. Suddenly Drakin sensed Mannimarco behind him and he turned on his heels. A hand instantly grasped his throat and raised him into the air. Mannimarco began draining his life energy. Drakin desperately wriggled and clasped at Mannimarco's hand.

"I developed this spell to be as agonizing as possible," Mannimarco grinned as he became more and more powerful as he leeched Drakin's energy. "Once you die, I will enthrall you and you will be my slave," Mannimarco began laughing. Drakin's skin slowly began sinking into his skull, his struggling became less and less aggressive. Suddenly, Odar charged at Mannimarco. Mannimarco saw him, dropped Drakin to the ground and cast a powerful paralysis spell on Odar. Odar's entire body froze in his running pose, his momentum caused him to fall over forwards at Mannimarco's feet. "See what happens when you oppose me?" Mannimarco exclaimed. "Soon you will all be at my feet like the worms you are!"

Zenny pushed back on Marlon's ethereal blade with his sword, forcing Marlon to take a step backwards. Zenny launched a counterattack with his sword.

He remembered he always beat Marlon at swordplay as children. If he let Marlon control the fight with his magical prowess, he would be in serious trouble.

Marlon blocked Zenny's attack by raising his forearm perpendicular to the ground. His forearm was still covered by the flowing, magical blade and stopped him receiving any damage from the attack. Zenny retracted his blade and swept it at Marlon from another angle, Marlon blocked accordingly. This repeated several times, Zenny pushing his advantage on Marlon. He felt Marlon was slower than him as Marlon was being pushed back. Marlon realised his disadvantage.

Suddenly, Marlon erected a second ethereal blade from his left arm. With the added blade, Marlon was no longer backing up but matching Zenny's swordplay. Their legs were now both planted, however their upper bodies were flailing as each tried to get into an opening made by the other.

Zenny noticed that Marlon was beginning to become strained. It must require a lot of magicka to constantly have the energy of those powerful blades exude from his arms. Marlon knew this as well.

Marlon swiped both blades horizontally at Zenny who could not block both at the same time. He jumped up and backwards into the air, however this was where Marlon wanted him. Marlon retracted both of his ethereal blades which caused him to be visibly relieved. As Zenny was in the air, Marlon blasted a flailing bolt of electricity at him striking him head on. Marlon kept the spell firing which also kept Zenny suspended in mid air. Zenny shouted out in agony, his skeleton flashing beneath his slowly frying flesh. Marlon released Zenny who fell to the ground. Marlon fell to his knees out of exhaustion. His magicka reserves had been depleted. He looked up to Zenny. To his utter surprise, Zenny started struggling up. Marlon was now defenseless, he still needed a little more time for his magicka levels to regenerate.

Zenny wobbly rose to his feet, his face was charred black and his hair frizzily stood on end. His armour's superficial texture had become that of charcoal. He mustered some strength and cast some type of fortification spell as he approached Marlon slowly, then he shifted into a jog before he reached a full out sprint. He launched himself into the air carrying his momentum and flipped forward rapidly. As he descended on his brother, he extended his leg which was spinning at such a velocity, it was only visible as a circular black blur. In Marlon's last ditch effort, and with what little magicka he currently had, he formed a magical shield around him. Zenny's heel crashed into the shield at the same force as a massive orcish battleaxe. The pressure caused the magical shield to visibly contort beneath Zenny's foot. Marlon resisted the pressure but cracks began to form in the shield then suddenly the pressure lifted and Zenny jumped back. Marlon released his shield and looked at Zenny. Zenny looked back in astonishment.

"Divines, you're strong," Zenny said.

"That's my line," Marlon replied. They both gave slight aberrant smiles.

Marlon saw Zenny become distracted instantly, he looked in the same direction and saw Mannimarco dropping an unconscious or dead Drakin and paralyzing Odar. They looked back at each other. They strained to find a solution to satisfy both of their goals. Zenny wanting to bring back Marlon and Marlon wanting them all gone so that Mannimarco's destiny would be thwarted.

Suddenly, a deafening crash distracted both Zenny and Marlon, they looked over and saw a massive cloud of dust rising from the ground.

Shinji and Xykyl stood facing one another, Shinji's fortification spell had worn off. Both fighters were panting slightly from their recent bout. This time Shinji waited for Xykyl to make the first move who eventually did.

Xkykl began to slowly walk towards Shinji. Xkykl held one of his blades out infront of him, pointing it towards Shinji. He then drew the blade back and begun spinning it together with his other sword. Two circular blurrs spun beside Xykyl who continued to steadily approach Shinji. Shinji kept his eyes on the blades, his eyes tracking them despite their rapid movements. When Xykyl was close enough, Shinji lunged forward with his blade and stopped both blades spinning like a stone in a cog. Xykyl pulled back his weapons and swiped at Shinji who dodged backwards. Shinji lunged forward again, aiming for Xykyl's neck. His blade was brushed aside by one of Xykyl's while his other blade flew towards Shinji's chest. Shinji acutely dodged the blade while stepping in towards Xkykl and in the same motion blasted his knee into Xykyl's abdomen. The armour around Xykyl's abdomen was segmented which allowed for more flexibility but also did not resist blunt force very well. Xykyl coughed as spittle flew from his mouth and a few strands of his white hair were flung forward across his brow. Xykyl was bent over but quickly retaliated with an upward flying elbow to Shinji's chin, knocking Shinji backwards. Xkykl coughed and Shinji remained dazed for a few seconds before recovering his senses. Shinji leapt forward and initiated a series of swordplay with Xykyl. Their martial abilities with the blade seemed to be on par as none of them could find an opening in the other.

Mehrunes Dagon had been spectating everything from his throne were he sat, laid back with his cheek resting on his knuckles. He was especially interested in Xkykl's battle. He knew some mortals were exceptionally talented and was glad one such mortal was here to fight against Xykyl.

As the flurry of blades between Shinji and Xykyl continued, it grew more and more intense. The blades began flying faster and faster and clashing more frequently. Shinji's single blade could be controlled precisely as he gripped it with both hands while Xykyl's dual blades could strike more often but with less precision. The flurry of swordplay continued until eventually one of Xykyl's blades nipped Shinji's shoulder and Shinji jumped back. It was the first time he had retreated first from a sword bout. A small red stain became visible on Shinji's shoulder through his garment. Shinji realised he'd now have to go all out not in order to beat his opponent but in order not to lose.

Shinji knelt down placing his Akavira Katana on the ground in front of him. He placed his hands on his knees and bowed his head .

"Are you going to pray me to death? Is that your new strategy after you realised you're no match for a Valkynaz?" Xykyl taunted. Shinji remained unperturbed. His head shifted looking up and down his blade, his eyes hidden behind his dreadlocks. He placed a hand on his Katana and it began to glow slightly. He looked up, sweat glistened on his dark skin and his once brown eyes now glowed white. He stood up with his sword in hand which continued to lighten up until it was only a pure white silhouette of the blade. There were no auras or energies around it. Shinji waved the blade back and forth slowly causing it to whistle a at a high frequency.

Mehrunes Dagon sat upright in his throne as he saw Shinji's transformation.

"Unbelievable. He is a Sword-Singer." Mehrunes Dagon said almost seeming excited. Xykyl looked at his Lord.

"A what?" he asked.

"I suggest you keep your guard up, Xykyl,"

The Sword-Singers were an ancient group of Yokudans, Redguard ancestors, who sought absolute martial mastery of the sword. The most elite among them, the Ansei, could infuse their blades with their own souls and even manifest pure swords from their souls. Their focus and skills were unmatched on all of Nirn. Despite a rich history, the art of Sword-Singing has died through the ages, modern Redguards consider the stories mere myths. Some claim however that there are truths to the stories and that the Way of the Sword and even the Shehai Shen She Ru, the Way of the Spirit Sword, lives on through one or two individuals.

Xykyl quickly looked back at Shinji. Shinji's face was expressionless as he looked directly at Xykyl with stone cold glowing white eyes.

Xykyl dashed towards Shinji, swerving his blades around him. Shinji lifted his blade which hummed as it moved, a white streak of light trailed behind it, Xykyl moved in slow motion compared to Shinji and Shinji's blade blocked Xykyl's attack. Xykyl lashed out with the same form of attacks that he implemented previously which managed to push Shinji back. Shinji did not even need footwork in order to block the attacks. He stood still, his arm and blade moved so fast it only seemed appear where it blocked Xykyl's attacks. Xykyl jumped backed realising the futility of his attacks. He was panting and seemed slightly distressed. He then shouted as a red auras grew around his blades then jumped forward again at Shinji. This time Shinji needed to take a step back to brace against Xykyl's attack but he still managed to block it with relative ease. Shinji kept blocking the flurry of red blades flying at him when suddenly Shinji cut forward with such blinding speed even Mehrunes Dagon lost track of him for a moment. Shinji stood behind Xykyl, his blade singing with energy. Xykyl was astonished. One of his blades had been sliced in half and he did not even see it happening. He turned around, fuming.

"It's time I show you your place, insect!" Xykyl snapped. He cut his palm with his remaining blade causing blood to pour from it after a short moment. He used the blood to draw a circle and fill it with various daedric inscriptions and runes. He cast an incantation of some sort and the ritual circle began to glow red; Xykyl stood with his arms outstretched.

He was performing an ancient and rare daedric ritual which has been passed down Xykyl's clan for millenia. The ritual called upon the forces of Oblivion to strengthen one's own body. The ritual sacrificed lesser deadra from all planes of Oblivion and used their power to fuel the one who initiated the ritual. The ritual ran the risk of causing the caster to go insane, causing an unnaturally high burden on the body and or inciting the wrath of the other Deadric Princes.

Energy poured from the ritual circle into Xykyl, he could feel his stamina regenerating, he could feel his blood heating up inside him, his once snow-white hair became red, his once yellow eyes were now blood red and bulged from their sockets, throbbing blue veins ran across his forehead and around his eyes. His red face tattoos glowed with the abundance of energy in his body. Xykyl grasped his remaining sword, immense heat began immenating from his hand onto the hilt, it began to glow red, soon the blade was molten red as well. Xykyl lifted the blade above his mouth and drank the dripping molten ebony steel from his sword. Xykyl's body was so hot, his deadric armour began glowing. Steam rose from him, he stretched out his hand then pierced his own body with it. He did the same with his other hand. He grasped around inside his own body to some clear visual discomfort to himself before slowly pulling out a single blade from inside his chest. The blade was unlike anything Shinji had seen before. It was glowing red and held massive amounts of energy. Carved daedric insignias in it shone bright red. It was an asymmetrical blade with a jagged cross guard and with vibrant and sprightly sparks flying off of it like sparks from sharpening a blade at a grindstone. It was the Blade of the Inferno.

Xykyl's face had lost its soul, he could do nothing now but destroy. His furrowed brow creased over red, wide and bloodthirsty eyes, his veins were literally pumping with energy, a red aura blasted around, his now red hair stood on end, spiked jaggedly. He smiled maniacally displaying, large and intimidating teeth.

He exploded in speed towards Shinji. Shinji's blade whistled through the air with precision and purpose. The blades clashed. The point at which the blades came in contact mirrored chaos and order. No auras or energy exuded from Shinji and he remained almost motionless in his struggle while flashing red auras, dynamic energies, bright, scorching and vibrant sparks poured from Xykyl. They both released their pressure before their swinging blades clashed again and again. Shinji's white eyes remained unflustered in the wake of Xykyl's boundless energy and he remained silent. Xykyl shouted out and laughed with every swing of his blade like a mad man at full tilt. Xykyl swiped his blade at Shinji with so much force it caused the air to split and thunder was heard crackling in the room. Shinji blocked the attack but it sent him flying through the air. Xykyl ran at blinding speeds over the ground, causing the floor to become molten red at each step. He jumped into the air, arched his back, bent his knees backwards and brought his sword as far back as he could possibly manage. Shinji was on the ground, his sword had been placed back in its sheath but his hand was on the hilt, ready to lash out with it. His knees were bent, his body wound up like a spring ready to explode, while he focussed on Xykyl. Xykyl swung his sword down at immeasurable speeds just before crashing into Shinji. The crash caused an explosion of dust and rubble to expand around them. A red glow could be seen behind the lifted dust.

The blast caught the attention of all the other fighters in the room. Zenny and Marlon gazed over. Mannimarco, standing over Drakin and Odar looked on intently. The dust began to settle. Besides the source of the red glow, they could make out the silhouette of a second figure. When the dust settled, Shinji could be seen stretched in a post-attacking stance, but something seemed wrong with him. Xykyl was standing behind him and facing away as well and was still glowing fiercely with red auras around him and sparks shooting from his unusual blade. Suddenly a chunk of flesh hit the ground with a thud next to Shinji. It was his arm. Shinji, who remained so composed, he seemed to have hardly noticed and sheathed his blade with a click. Xykyl's bloodlust eyes were wide. A streak of blood poured from his nose. His head then rolled from his shoulders, all of the auras around him disappeared and his blade turned into ash as his body collapsed to the ground. His head rolled for a few feet and his red hair returned to its original white colour on his severed head.

Shinji breathed heavily. Blood was pouring from his shoulder. He quickly removed his light outer armour and tore off his remaining upper garment. He wrapped his shoulder and applied some restoration magic to his wound.

Shinji's eyes were no longer white and he was exhausted.

"Xykyl lost," Mehrunes Dagon said. "Unbelievable."

Mannimarco felt nothing for either of those fighters. Even if Xykyl did not intercept Shinji, he would still have ascended. He knew everything that was happening here was happening for a reason. This is where his destiny would be realised. The destiny written for him by Lorkhan himself.

"Shinji!" Zenny shouted. "Are you okay!?" Shinji looked over at Zenny. He produced a thumbs-up.

Suddenly Zenny saw Mannimarco charging a spell to hit the paralysed Odar at point-blank range.

"No!" Zenny dashed at Mannimarco but he was too far away. Mannimarco fired an icicle at Odar's heart. Zenny could not stand seeing his comrades die and getting injured right in front of him. The icicle flew through the air and in the last second Odar broke free of the paralysis but it was too late. The icicle pierced his body and anchored him to the ground. Odar had luckily shifted just enough so that the icicle missed his heart and pierced his shoulder.

Zenny swiped his sword at Mannimarco who erected a large ward in order to block the attack. The force of the attack still caused Mannimarco to skid backwards on his feet. Zenny returned with another slice and Mannimarco blocked it again but then blasted Zenny back with a telekinetic force.

"Yes! Come force me to seek greater power!" Mannimarco laughed. Zenny got up and charged at Mannimarco again but was halted by Marlon's hand on his ankle.

"Don't do it Zenny! Just leave here!" Marlon pleaded.

"Never!" Zenny ripped his foot away and ignited a fireball in his palm which he then flung at Mannimarco. Mannimarco brushed it aside with his hand sending it to explode behind him. Mannimarco held out his left arm causing his staff to levitate up from the ground and subsequently fly into his hand.

"Your father was far stronger than you, boy!" Mannimarco exclaimed. This triggered Zenny and he charged at Mannimarco once again. However this time Marlon appeared before him erecting a shield. Zenny clashed into it with his sword. Sparks of electricity fired from the impact then Zenny stood back.

"Stop protecting him!" Zenny shouted. "If we work together we can bring him down!"

"How many times do I have to tell you to leave!?" Marlon retorted urgently. "What's happening here is far greater than the concerns you have Zenny," Marlon looked down. "If killing you is required for the greater good, I will do it," Marlon said solemnly.

"Your efforts will be futile my boy," Mannimarco interrupted. "What has been prophesied by Lorkhan has already been determined. From Faenyl being used to find Marlon, to Manuelle giving Marlon the amulet infused with my powerful teleportation spell, to this final confrontation. All has has fallen exactly into place as Lorkhan has written," Mannimarco said as he smiled.

Zenny's sword flew into Marlon's shield again and again. Marlon blasted the forcefield forward into Zenny, sending him crashing backwards. Zenny got up and tenaciously charged at Mannimarco again. This time Marlon let fly sparks of electricity from his hands at Zenny. Zenny lifted his blade as he ran which absorbed some of the sparks but Marlon soon increased the intensity of the electricity, forcing Zenny to stop running and focus on resisting the searing whips of electricity. Zenny inched forward as he screamed out in pain. While being electrocuted, Zenny managed to cast a resistance spell which nearly nullified Marlon's magical effects. As he broke free from the spell, he dashed forward, and drove his knee into Marlon's gut. Marlon grunted upon the impact and dropped to the ground, winded. Zenny pressed onwards toward Mannimarco.

"You tenacious fool," Mannimarco snarled. Zenny brought his sword down on Mannimarco. Mannimarco erected a shield which reflected Zenny's attack back on him. Zenny was thrown of balance, taking several steps backwards before jumping forwards again coming down on Mannimarco with exact motion he just did. Mannimarco once again erected his shield when suddenly Zenny changed his attacking position. Zenny retracted his sword and raised his hand forward, placing it on Mannimarco shield. Before Mannimarco could react, his shield began to disintegrate, it was flowing into Zenny's palm. He was absorbing the energy. Mannimarco released his shield and placed his staff forward in order to attack Zenny, however Zenny was close enough to grab the staff which had been charging a fireball and redirect it before it could fire at him. A fireball exploded on the ceiling above them sending rubble crumbling down. Now, in close range, Zenny jabbed his sword forward straight to Mannimarco's heart. The sword hit Mannimarco's chest armour and continued to pierce when suddenly Mannimarco disappeared. He reappeared some distance away.

Zenny was panting. Mannimarco seemed slightly flustered. Suddenly Mannimarco turned around and blocked an attack from Shinji with his staff. Shinji had lost a lot of blood and was exhuasted from his fight with Xykyl at the same time. Mannimarco pushed back on Shinji's struggling sword with his staff and blasted a massive thunderbolt at Shinji at point blank rage. The bolt of lightning kept firing, driving Shinji into the wall with great force.

"No!" Zenny yelled. Zenny, despite his injuries, dashed at Mannimarco. Marlon, who got up from the ground, dazed, saw Zenny running. Marlon was torn apart. He reluctantly charged a fireball between his two hands and fired it at Zenny. It exploded on Zenny's back sending him flying forwards and crashing at Mannimarco's feet. Smoke rose from Zenny's charred back. Mannimarco stopped firing lighting at Shinji and turned around to find Zenny at his feet. He looked up and saw Marlon looking at the ground, ashamed. Mannimarco grinned. Zenny shakingly pressed against the ground with his hands, trying to get up. Mannimarco made him crash back down with the stomp of his foot on Zenny's back. Mannimarco looked up.

"What now!?" Mannimarco shouted. "Am I supposed to kill him? Mannimarco yelled into the air. "Can I kill him and bring him back?"

The room was quiet. The bodies of Odar, Drakin and Shinji were motionless. Marlon kept looking down. Zenny started to struggle against Mannimarco's foot.  
"Stay down, insect," Mannimarco snapped. "I don't think it'll matter if I kill you, Lorkhan never specified we needed you alive," Mannimarco grinned the stabbed the bottom point of his staff into Zenny's shoulder. Zenny shouted out in pain making Marlon look up instantly. Mannimarco let waves of electricity flow down from his staff into Zenny's body electrocuting and burning him. He let out cries of agony. Mannimarco began to laugh at Zenny's suffering, taking great pleasure from it.

"Your father died like a dog!" Mannimarco shouted in ecstacy. "When I return to Tamriel, I'll enthrall him and make him my court jester," Mannimarco let out a diabolical laugh. Zenny was absolutely powerless. He felt humiliation, absolute agony and regret. He thought of his mother, his father and how he had never reconciled with him before he died and he finally thought of his failure to keep his father's promise to and to bring back Marlon safely. He wanted to die now and be free of these sickening feelings. The pain suddenly stopped and he felt nothing. A small sense of relief came over him knowing he was dead.


	14. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

He wasn't dead. He opened one eye and gazed up and saw a blinding white light. He couldn't make out what it was, perhaps he was in Aetherius. He closed his eyes again and went to sleep.

A hand was grasped around Mannimarco's face and drove it into the ground with the force of a thousand mammoths. Mehrunes Dagon sat forward on his throne. Marlon had broken free of Mannimarco's obedience spell. Seeing the torment his brother was enduring brought him to the point where he decided to risk literally everything. His life, and so the fate of all existence and nonexistence. With the aid of sheer willpower and determination, he broke free of the spell with the spell he had been developing himself in a flash of blinding light. Marlon shone with a white aura of serene and still energy. His eyes raged with intensity. Now he could destroy Mannimarco. There was no holding back here. As he drove Mannimarco's head into the ground he shoved harder and harder with every fibre of his body thinking of every time he tormented him, the life he robbed him of, the father that he killed, the burden he placed on his mother. Mannimarco's head was at the brink of exploding when he suddenly disappeared. He reappeared at the other end of the room and instantly fell to his knees.

"You've always been a damn coward at heart you damned monster!" Marlon shouted. Mannimarco coughed up blood and before he had the chance to stand up, Marlon was right in front of him. A great amount of magical energy poured out from his arm and was dynamically mouled into the shape of a blade. With it, Marlon slashed at Mannimarco who just barely managed to place his staff between himself and the ethereal blade. He was thrown through the air. As he flew, he realized Marlon had shattered his staff. He crashed into the ground. He saw Marlon readying himself to attack again. Mannimarco saw a flashback of when Zendar was about to kill him and he realized this time he was actually going to die.

"Dagon!" Mannimarco shouted. "You have to stop this man before he kills me!" Mehrunes Dagon let out a hearty laugh.  
"You foolish Necromancer!" Mehrunes Dagon said in amusement. "You brought this on yourself! I am interested to see what happens next!" Mehrunes Dagon said then chortled ominously.

"Have you forgotten about our plans!?" Mannimarco shouted desperately.

"Luckily you've already fulfilled your end of our bargain, Necromancer. If you die now, I won't even have to keep my end. This is sounding better and better," Mehrunes Dagon replied in an ironically upbeat voice.

"Curse you Dagon!" Mannimarco shouted. Marlon suddenly dashed towards Mannimarco again. He bent his elbow backwards, bringing his hand and magical blade towards his side, reading to stab forward with it at an immeasurable force. Mannimarco saw it coming and, with every fibre in his body and every reserve of magicka he had left, created the most powerful ward he could possibly muster. Marlon swooped forward and shot his arm forward just before he crashed into Mannimarco. Mannimarco's ward was instantly shattered. The blade shot right through his body. Marlon kept going until they crashed into a wall. Mannimarco's head hung down. He struggled to bring it up to be face-to-face with Marlon.

"You will die here and your soul will forever suffer in the fires of Oblivion," Marlon said. Words he dreamed of one day being able to say to Mannimarco. Mannimarco looked at Marlon with such loathing eyes, and with a hatred so strong, Marlon could sense it in his bones. " _You have lost._ " Marlon said slowly, savouring every word. He wrenched and twisted his magical blade in Mannimarco's gut making him groan in agony. Marlon kept his eyes focussed on Mannimarco and not once did Mannimarco look away. His loathing eyes selfishly wished for more power, selfishly craved energy and selfishly wanted to make them suffer. But he was the one suffering now. Marlon pulled the blade from Mannimarco's gut causing him to fall to the ground while holding his wound, doing his best to stop the bleeding. Marlon looked down on Mannimarco. Mannimarco could no longer sense hatred from Marlon' eyes. It was now just pity. This, to Mannimarco, was the greatest defeat. And it was at this lowest moment in Mannimarco's existence that changed everything.

The entire feeling in not only the room, but throughout Oblivion, Nirn, Aetherius and The Void changed. Something shifted, something not physical or even magical but some sort of essence, the fabric of existence, something that could not be explained even by the greatest scholars. Yet despite its enigmatic nature, it felt evil.

Mehrunes Dagon stood up from his throne.

"What is this?" He questioned. "I sense something... I cannot place. This feeling… this… _nostalgia_."

A sudden feeling of dread came over Marlon.  
"No," he said quietly. Refusing to believe what was happening. Of everyone in Mundus, he was the only one who truly knew what happened. He turned around to hear Mannimarco speaking.

"I am we. I am I," Mannimarco said. His voice a choir of frequencies. Mannimarco had ascended, had achieved CHIM as was written by Lorkhan. CHIM, the secret syllable of royalty, was a state of being. A state before Anu and Padomay formed something and nothing. In this state, one could manipulate The Aurbis - Mundus, Oblivion, Aetherius and The Void how they pleased. The state is akin to a lucid dream wherein the dreamer maintains absolute control of the dream. CHIM can only be achieved by undertaking a Psijic Endeavor, seeing _The Tower_ , the universe, and understanding that oneself is part of the universe yet oneself remains an individual. Additionally, CHIM can only be achieved by an individual who was born mortal; for a god could never understand 'the joy of mortals', to understand that death is only an illusion and a cycle to be broken. A god, in its infinite presence and ineffability, cannot possibly locate its own individuality in the Aurbis like a mortal. The final requirement for achieving CHIM is love. However, in some bizarre bending of reality, Mannimarco used hatred, the absence of love, to seemingly achieve an abominable version of CHIM.

"I see everything. I know everything. I am everything. I am now omnipotent," Mannimarco explained.

"What's this!?" Mehrunes Dagon exclaimed, surprised. "Is this your doing necromancer?"

"Yes," Mannimarco replied solemnly.

"What have you done?" Mehrunes Dagon questioned.

"I have become Almighty and now I will turn all of reality into death, sickness, suffering and pain," Mannimarco replied.

"Do not claim such power so freely, Necromancer. You forget who's realm of Oblivion you stand in!" Mehrunes Dagon said, growing more fierce.

"Compared to all of reality, you are nothing but a flea," Mannimarco said. Suddenly Mehrunes Dagon erupted in anger.

"I will show you the power of a god!" Mehrunes Dagon said as his body began to grow to ten times the size it was, his shoulders were on fire, his four arms spawned massive deadric swords from his flesh. His styled scars lit up red. He brought down two of the four enormous swords on Mannimarco. The sheer size and immense power that came with the swinging of the swords raised massive amounts of dust and rubble as it crashed into Mannimarco. When the dust finally settled, a scene that seemed unfathomable to any rational mind emerged. The two blades had both come into contact with either side of Mannimarco's neck. His skin was not even pressed down, it was as if the blades were not even there, yet both had cut towards Mannimarco's neck with godly strength and speed. It made no sense. Mehrunes Dagon, The Deadric Prince of Destruction, Energy, Ambition, and Revolution, considered by many to be the most powerful Deadric Prince, held negligible power before Mannimarco even in his own realm of Oblivion.

"Do you see now?" Mannimarco asked. Mehrunes Dagon, like any other god, had never experienced something such as this. He did not know how to react and so did not react. Mannimarco did not even move as he shrunk Mehrunes Dagon back down to his humanoid size. Mannimarco looked him in his seemingly dead eyes.

"I will keep you alive. Destruction is a good quality," Mannimarco said. Mehrunes Dagon remained petrified, in his infinite power, he was - powerless.

Mannimarco looked past Mehrunes Dagon at Marlon. Marlon eyes were watery, this was quite literally, the worst possible outcome. It reached further than the doom of the world. Marlon ran to his brother on the ground, knelt by him and held his head on his lap.

Zenny weakly opened his eyes and vaguely saw Marlon's face.

"Did you beat him?" Zenny asked. Marlon released a sob and began crying. He grasped his brother in his arms and held him.

"My soul was going to burn in the fires of Oblivion?" Mannimarco asked. Marlon continued to sob with his brother in his arms. "Now, I will take my time torturing and humiliating you, as you have done to me."

Suddenly the walls of the room shifted and then the entire space around them. A blur of lights and darkness flew past them, or they past it. They all remained in the positions they were in, Marlon hugging Zenny and Mannimarco standing nearby. The blurs around them suddenly stopped and they found themselves on a small, cracked dry, red little island. The further landscapes shifted into position before the large mountains at the horizon came to a stand still. They were somewhere in the Deadlands. Rivers of lava, barren and scorched lands. A hideous place.

"I know your thoughts, Marlon," Mannimarco said. "There is no torture greater to you than seeing those you love in agony."

"No!" Marlon yelled desperately.

"Your brother will suffer the greatest agonies imaginable while you will watch," Mannimarco explained in his choir of solemn voices. Marlon kept his brother in his arms and sobbed uncontrollably.

"What's happ-" Zenny's soul was pulled from its body. Zenny's eyes rolled back and he lay motionless in Marlons arms.

"Please! Torture me instead!" Marlon's voice broke down desperately. A bright shining light emerged from Zenny's body. It hovered over to Mannimarco's hand.

"A powerful soul despite his current condition. Very impressive," Mannimarco sent the light hovering into the boiling lava. As soon as it touched the lava, Zenny's body began shaking violently. The light became submerged in the lava.

"Stop it you monster!" Marlon yelled. "Akatosh! Talos! Stop him, I beg you!" Marlon cried out into the sky. Then he hugged Zenny's body tightly to try to mitigate the shaking. Soon Zenny's mouth began to foam and his nose started to bleed.

"This unjust evil, I don't care if you have become all powerful, something will rise to end you, _I know it,"_ Marlon said.

"I know what you know," Mannimarco replied. "All it is is hope, and soon I will take that from you as well. Now, I think anymore will kill him," Mannimarco held out his hand and the the light returned from the scorching lava. It was no longer bright, it barely shone and it flickered as if trying to stay alive. Mannimarco sent the light back to Zenny's body. Zenny gasped upon the return of his soul then immediately passed out. He seemed uncomfortable in his unconscious state.

"His death is now the event that will cause maximum emotional suffering upon you. Even though I can just blink him out of existence, doing it the old fashioned way is far better... and more painful," Mannimarco's solemn face grinned for the first time.

Suddenly their surroundings moved and shifted again, until a new one fell into its place. They were in an open grassland with blue skies. Marlon recognized the landscape. They were a short ride from Skingrad. Mannimarco separated the two brothers by pulled Marlon away from Zenny, causing Marlon to be tumbled several yards away. He then levitated Zenny's body into the air and suspended it there.

"Behold the first death of millions," Mannimarco said. He held out his hand and an icicle grew in size before it. It was suddenly launched at Zenny's body.

"Nooo!" Marlon yelled as he got up and started to run towards Zenny. He realised he wasn't going to make it in time he then suddenly blinked forward, using Mannimarco's own spell, selflessly putting himself between the icicle and Zenny. Mannimarco attempted to move Marlon out of the way but could not. Had he not fully transitioned into a state of CHIM yet? Why could he not control an aspect of reality?

The icicle pierced Marlon's heart. Zenny saw it happening.

It was the greatest act of love.

Suddenly the fabric of existence churned, the sky changed colours, the ground waved, everything seemed to be unsure of what it was supposed to be like the gears keeping reality going were becoming erratic.

"What have you done?" Mannimarco said as he looked around, confused. He knew he was not meant to be confused. Everything had just made so much sense to him, he knew everything but it started to fade away like distant memories desperately being clinged to.

The once grassland landscape and blue skies flowed down around all three of them, revealing something akin to the night sky but all around them. Millions of small lights were splashed across a black backdrop. Zenny looked up and noticed the Serpent constellation.

"The Void Ghost?" Mannimarco questioned. Mannimarco then gasped with a sudden realisation. "Lorkhan!?"

"And so a new Godhead is born, the greatest achievement any being is capable of," A booming yet gentle voice said.

"You used me!?" Mannimarco snapped.

"Indeed. Marlon was never the key for _your_ ascendance. _He_ was the Chosen One to not only achieve CHIM but something beyond," Lorkhan's voice explained. "When I created Nirn, and gave my heart to do so, in my attempt, and failure, to achieve CHIM, I showed all creatures that it was simply impossible for a god," Lorkhan continued. "Only those born mortal could possibly achieve this state since understanding that death is only a cycle to be broken and finding individuality, yet understanding oneself's existence within the Aurbis, are major necessities to transcendance. Finally, CHIM could only be achieved through selfish desires and love. Desiring power, desiring to change some aspect of reality for one's own benefit or for the benefit of those you love." Lorkhan's tone rose from gentle to indignant. "You bastardised this by using hatred. You will forever be cursed - in time that was, and time that is yet to be - to never know love. This, is the greatest curse,"

"You fool! I care not for such things!" Mannimarco laughed.

"Behold, the absence of love manifest," Lorkhan replied. "Since your birth to your eventual death, you have and always will not care for such things, _that_ is exactly your curse,"

"Spare me your philosophy! Return my power, return me to my Almighty state! I saw the tower, I have done everything! Years of research and planning! Return my power!" Mannimarco yelled looking around at the cosmos.

"Your power has been forfeited to one far more worthy," Lorkhan said.

"No! This wasn't what you promised me, you lier! You are truly _The Trickster!_ I should have known!"

"In your vast knowledge, I found it interesting you thought I would actually help a descendant of Ehlnofey, Altmer, ascend. I robbed your race of your divinity, tricked you out of godhood, for what reason would I contradict my own actions?"

"Curse you, Trickster!" Mannimarco shouted. Then fell to his knees. The injuries he had sustained returned to him and he coughed meagrely. His body began to disappear, he was returned in his cursed state to Nirn. His fate was sealed. Relative to his life so far, he was already dead. A lost necromancer, desperately trying to cling to any type of power he can, all his ambitions of the past, thwarted.

Zenny saw what happened to Mannimarco, then looked at the slumped over body of his brother, Marlon.

"What's going to happen to Marlon?" Zenny weakly asked the unseen voice.

"Everything you know, and do not know is part of a dream," Lorkhan said. Zenny seemed very confused. "This is the dream of the Godhead, however the Godhead is not aware of their dream. In a state of CHIM, one can manipulate this dream at will, however CHIM is merely one of the several walking ways. Marlon, having walked all of the walking ways - now including CHIM - and through an act of selfless, instead of selfish, love has achieved _Amaranth_."

Zenny had no idea what the voice was saying. He only cared about what he could understand.

"Will he survive? Please! You have to help him! Will we return home together?" Zenny asked desperately, listening to the response. Lorkhan remained still for a moment.

"Marlon has become love. Your entire reality is love. It is why one can ascend when knowing true love. Marlon will soon leave this reality and begin a new dream, he will be a new Godhead. He will dream a dream of love. Though love is universal even across a Godhead. Every time you feel love in your world, you will feel your brother. Thus he will forever be with you," Lorkhan said.

"No! I want him to come back with me! I need him! Please! He's my brother, I love him!" Zenny shouted, tears flowing from his eyes.

"You see? He is already with you,"

Marlon's body began to glow white and began to disintegrate. Zenny wanted to scream out and stop it but a feeling of reassurance came over him, a warm feeling, a happy feeling; and for some reason, he suddenly felt content.

The cosmological background began to fade around Zenny and suddenly he was right back where he was in the tower in the Deadlands. He looked around, confused. He couldn't find Marlon anywhere. He did, however, see his other comrades. Curiously, Mehrunes Dagon was missing. Did he die? Probably not.

Zenny ran to Drakin and Odar. Drakin had managed to get himself up and even stop the bleeding in Odar's shoulder. Drakin's weak and pale face looked up and saw Zenny.

"Zenny!" Drakin said, surprised.

"Are you guys alright?"

"We'll manage for now, but we have to get out of here as soon as possible," Drakin said weakly but seriously.

"I'll get Shinji, he also has the sigil stone, the key to getting out of here," Zenny said as he got up and ran over to where Shinji sat with his back perched against the wall. Zenny feared the worse.

"Shinji! Shinji can you hear me?" Zenny said as he came up to Shinji. Shinji's eyes were closed and his head hung down. "Shinji!" Zenny said as he put his hand on his shoulder. One of Shinji's eyes weakly opened and he looked up at Zenny. "We're getting out of here, come on," Zenny placed Shinji's arm around his shoulder and he carried him over to Odar and Drakin.

"Can you guys walk?" Zenny asked. Odar and Drakin both nodded. "Come on then, let's get Swims and Sophia. They slowly made their way towards the entrance of giant room, Swims-The-Seas came around the corner with Sophia over his shoulder. "Swims!" Zenny shouted. "Are you okay?"

"My senses have returned to me, I heard you all getting ready to leave, let's go," Swims-The-Seas said.

"Shinji do you still have the Sigil stone?" Zenny asked. Shinji nodded then reached into his pocket. His heart sunk when he felt inside his pocket. He felt only dust and ash. "What is it Shinji?" Zenny questioned.

"The stone… is destroyed," Everyone in the group collectively felt a sense of dread and doom.

"Curses, how do we get out of here now!?" Odar shouted, holding his arm.

"There has to be another way," Drakin added.

"I don't believe this," Zenny said. "I don't believe this," he said again but slower.

"We have to stay calm, let's think," Drakin said. The group started to feel heat from behind them, towards the inside of the room. They turned around and all of their hearts skipped beats. It was Mehrunes Dagon.

Mehrunes Dagon walked towards them, his body naturally generating large amounts of heat which flowed from him like hot air from a furnace.

"After all this…" Zenny said under his breath.

"I want you all gone," The Daedric Prince of Destruction said. His voice resonated throughout the land.

"We want to leave," Drakin said desperately.

"From this moment onwards, if any one of you set foot in my plane of Oblivion again, you will instantly be killed. This is my curse upon you,"

Zenny felt it was more of a blessing than a curse. Mehrunes Dagon lifted his finger and suddenly they all disappeared from the Deadlands. Mehrunes Dagon breathed a sigh of relief. He would never speak of the events that happened here.

Everyone crashed into the conference room in the Fighters Guild. Zenny looked around and recognized the room. He inflated with relief. He looked at the first person next to him, Swim-The-Seas and threw his arms around him. Everyone was relieved.


	15. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

3E 363, 29th of Evening Star

It had now been nearly two years since Zenny and his companions had ventured into Oblivion to defeat Mannimarco and rescue Marlon. Despite Erina's heartbreak when she did not see Marlon return with them, she was equally relieved that her other son had not been taken from her as well. Besides, Zenny had felt surprisingly reassured about Marlon's 'ascendance' as he called it. Erina was bound by the laws of the physical and magical plane, she could not understand Zenny's explanations but what mattered was that for some reason, he was more loving and positive since he returned from that whole ordeal. He had even made up with Vivienne and their relationship was even stronger than before Zenny left Skindgrad at eighteen.

After returning from Oblivion, they held Zendar's funeral at Cloud Ruler temple north of Bruma. Despite Counts, Kings, and Jarls from around the Empire wanting to attend, Erina decided to have a smaller, more intimate funeral. The Emperor, Pelagius Septim IV, did come discreetly, he was close with Zendar and even shed tears when he was lowered into his grave on a hillside nearby. Erina thought that she had finished shedding tears but she was surprised when she found herself sobbing in her son's chest.

Zenny was proud of his father, he shed a manly tear, thinking of the found memories he had with him and of the sadness that he never got to see Marlon grow up.

"He was the very best," The Emperor said to Erina at the end of the ceremony.

Shinji was now the new Grandmaster of the Blades. He was a fine candidate for the position.

Since returning from Oblivion, Zenny had moved back to Skingrad to be with his mother. Erina was originally planning on selling the manor in which they had lived since she and Zendar got married. Some unforeseen happenings however, convinced her to stay in the manor.

Zenny drove his sword through the last of the skeevers. He was in old Mrs. Grinya's house who had recently suffered from a bit of a skeever infestation in her basement. Zenny, having been made an honorary member of the Fighter's Guild after passing his trial some months ago, was now carrying out meagre tasks kept for the lowest ranking members. Zenny did not mind, he was going to take his time climbing the ranks and decided to enjoy the journey while he's at it. The work did not pay very well but since he moved back in with his mother, he did not need too much of it.

"Alright Mrs. Grinya, I've cleared them all out!" Zenny shouted up the stairs of the basement.

"Oh, divines bless you, Zenny. They were destroying all my precious stored vegetables," Mrs. Grinya said gratefully from halfway down the stairs.

"No worries, ma'am," Zenny said. "Just doing my job."

"Come, come let me pay you," She gestured Zenny up into the house and he followed. She scurried over to a big chest and just barely managed to get the large lid open. She pulled out a few septims and put it in Zenny's hand.

"Thank you very much Mrs. Grinya," Zenny said gratefully. Mrs Grinya smiled back then her eyes lit up.

"Oh! I have a special bonus for you, Zenny!" She said cheerfully as she scurried over to another room. Zenny was curious as he stood waiting. She came back with something small but shiny in her hand. Zenny had to look twice. It was a ring.

"Oh no Mrs. Grinya, I can't take that," Zenny said as he pulled back and waved his hands in front of him.

"Now listen here young man, you should never deny a gift from a lady," Mrs. Grinya said. Zenny reluctantly acquiesced. "You remind me a lot of my husband when he was young," Mrs. Grinya said, becoming teary eyed. "He gave me this ring when he asked me to marry him, I want you to have it, you've always been such a good boy, and we never had children of our own..." Mrs. Grinya said touchingly. Zenny reached out his hand slowly and Mrs. Grinya put the ring in his palm then closed his hand. She gave him a smile then said:  
"Come on, go! I thought you had somewhere to be! Come on, get!" She hustled Zenny out of her house. Before she could close the door, Zenny spoke.

"Mrs. Grinya," She held the door. "Thank you," Zenny said sincerely. Mrs. Grinya gave Zenny a smile then closed the door.

It was still early in the morning. Zenny knew he should be home soon for a very special occasion. He walked home with a grin on his face.

Zenny opened the door to his home. His mother had just finished putting up some of the final decorations for a birthday party. She saw him come in.

"Zenny! How was your job this morning?" Erina asked as she stepped down from a wooden ladder.

"Well it was pretty dull until the end," Zenny said, looking around at the decorations.

"What happened?" She asked curiously.

"Oh I'll tell you later," Zenny said as he kept looking around. "Wow, ma, the decorations look great."

"Thank you," Erina said and smiled.

"Where's the special little lady?" Zenny asked.

"Asleep in her room," Erina replied. Zenny quietly walked upstairs to his old room. He stood in the doorway and saw his little sister sleeping as quietly and peacefully as a little lamb, wrapped in soft linen in her little crib.

Her name was Mara. She was named after the goddess of love. Erina saw her as Zendar's final gift to his family. Zenny walked over and picked her up. Her tiny body was shorter than Zenny's forearm. He looked down at her innocent little face. Her big eyes were closed as she let out a little yawn then seemingly kept on sleeping. Zenny was inflated with a sense affection towards Mara. He mysteriously felt Marlon's presence among them, then he smiled. Zenny tenderly placed Mara back in her crib and he walked back out with his mother.

"Can't believe she's already a year old," Zenny said.

"It's so strange to think, right?" Erina replied.

"So who's all coming to the party?" Zenny asked.

"Oh you know, some of my friends. You can invite some of your buddies from the Fighters Guild too, I'm sure Swims and Drakin would love to come. And what about that big Nord that fought with you guys?"

"Oh, Odar?"

"Yeah."

"He went to Chorrol some time ago. Something about a woman," Zenny said. Erina giggled then sighed.

"There's always a woman isn't there?" She said as her eyes sparkled.

"Yup…" Zenny said. "Hey ma?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm gonna go over to Vivienne's place real quick,"

Erina tilted her head, smiled and flashed her eyebrows up at Zenny. Zenny tried to play it off and they began to laugh together.


End file.
